Donald Trump in Twitter row with Corbyn & Hunt as he attacks Britain’s ‘broke’ NHS
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has hit out at Donald Trump’s “wrong” criticism of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) after the president claimed that thousands of people were protesting because “the system is going broke."
Corbyn replied to Trump on Twitter, saying: “People were marching because we love our NHS and hate what the Tories are doing to it. Healthcare is a human right.”
Wrong. People were marching because we love our NHS and hate what the Tories are doing to it. Healthcare is a human right. https://t.co/Pmo2xYSqZh
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) February 5, 2018
Hunt - the Tory health secretary accused of ordering the cuts that have angered protesters - also took issue with Trump’s claim. He said on Twitter: “I may disagree with claims made on that march but not ONE of them wants to live in a system where 28m people have no cover.
“NHS may have challenges but I’m proud to be from the country that invented universal coverage – where all get care no matter the size of their bank balance.”
I may disagree with claims made on that march but not ONE of them wants to live in a system where 28m people have no cover. NHS may have challenges but I’m proud to be from the country that invented universal coverage - where all get care no matter the size of their bank balance https://t.co/YJsKBAHsw7
— Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) February 5, 2018
Trump tweeted on Monday: “The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!”
Trump’s tweet refers to the mass ‘Save our NHS’ protest on Saturday, which saw tens of thousands of people walking to Downing Street in London to demand that PM Theresa May injects more funds into the crisis-stricken NHS.
His comments on the NHS are meant as an attack on the opposition Democrats, who want the government to play a bigger role in providing healthcare for Americans.
Currently only elderly and poor people can get free care in the US, with everyone else buying health insurance. Some Democrats - including potential challengers to Trump in the 2020 election - are calling for the US to move towards a system more similar to the NHS.
It is not clear on what information Trump was basing his assessment of the NHS. He thanked the hosts of Fox News's morning ‘Fox and Friends’ show immediately after the first tweet.
The show had run a segment on the NHS that morning, featuring an interview with former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who campaigned for Trump during the 2016 election campaign.
.@Nigel_Farage on universal health care debate: “The problem is, we just haven’t got enough hospitals, we haven’t got enough doctors, we haven't got enough facilities." https://t.co/bREH9NwFbkpic.twitter.com/a2cQfQLTTf
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 5, 2018
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