Keir Starmer urged to rip up drug deal with ‘bully’ Donald Trump

The Lib Dems have called on the Prime Minister to tear up a trade agreement with the US and plough billions into sorting the UK’s social care crisis instead

Keir Starmer must tear up a “Trump tax” healthcare deal and plough money into fixing Britain’s broken social care system instead, MPs have demanded.

The Lib Dems accused the PM of being bullied by the US President after announcing a new trade deal last month. Experts reckon pharmaceutical costs will soar by £3billion a year thanks to a transatlantic agreement – but the Government disputes this figure.

The deal raises the price thresholds for medicines by up to 25%, but has been hailed by the Government, which says Britain will be the only country in the world to secure a zero per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals to the US.

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It comes as the PM comes under pressure to speed up promised social care reforms. Analysis shows patients who were fit to leave hospital spent more than 4.3million days stuck on wards because their care needs could be met in 2024/25.

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Keir Starmer has found billions of pounds to pay off the bully in the White House but has still not found the funds to fix social care. He needs to personally get a grip of this crisis, end this negligence and finally show whose side he’s on.”

On January 3 last year the Government announced a cross-party commission on social care – but it has met just once since then. Ms Cooper said: “Far from ‘transforming’ social care, this Government continues to kick the can down the road just like the Conservatives who came before them.

“Leaving hospital patients to be treated on crammed hospital corridors, waiting hours for an ambulance, or stuck for weeks and months in a hospital bed is nothing short of negligence. Starmer must fix social care now.”

Labour promised a new National Care Service in the build-up to the 2024 general election. A commission, led by Baroness Louise Casey, is expected to make its first set of recommendations this year.

But it is not expected to make its final proposals until 2028. The agreement between the UK and the US has come under fire, with The Lancet journal estimating it will lead to an additional £3billion in drug costs per year.

But the Government said it will safeguard supplies and secures preferential terms for the UK’s med tech exports.

A government spokeswoman said: “This is incorrect. The £3 billion figure is not accurate and no money will be cut from frontline NHS services to fund this deal. This deal is a vital investment that builds on the strength of our NHS and world leading life sciences sector to increase access to lifesaving medicines.

“After over a decade of damage to our NHS at the hands of both the Tories and the Lib Dems, we inherited shocking delays to hospital discharge and are working to turn this around. Thanks to our record investment, millions more appointments have been delivered, and NHS productivity is rising.

“As well as working with Baroness Casey to fix our social care crisis, the NHS is also working closely with local authority and social care colleagues, so that discharge capacity can surge at times of peak demand.

“We’ve issued clear guidance to support faster, safer hospital discharge, and we’re joining up NHS and social care through Neighbourhood Health Teams so more people can get the care they need at home.”

In a statement last month, Mr Trump’s healthcare chief Robert F. Kennedy, Jr said: “This agreement with the United Kingdom strengthens the global environment for innovative medicines and brings long-overdue balance to U.S.–U.K. pharmaceutical trade.

“President Trump showed real courage and leadership in demanding these reforms, and I thank him for delivering results that put Americans first.”