IN response to Alan Hickman's letter 'Our great NHS must not be put up for sale' (Craven Herald, September 10).

Firstly, I would like to wish Alan all the best for his ongoing cancer treatment and hope he makes a full recovery.

Regarding his excellent points about the work the NHS does for us all, I would like to draw your reader's attention to this. On July 21, 2020, the MP for Skipton and Ripon, Julian Smith and 336 other conservative MPs voted not to protect the NHS, it's supply chain and prescription service in any future trade deal with the United States.(The same country's health service Alan complains about in his letter).

Opposition MPs had asked for an amendment be added to The Trade Bill to exclude the NHS from any future deal, but this and the fact parliament cannot now vote on any future trade deal struck by this government was voted down by Conservative MPs.

The US pharmaceutical and health insurance industries are incredibly powerful and will aggressively pursue any profit they can achieve from the NHS. If and when a trade deal is struck between ourselves and the US, our MP, our representative in parliament, has helped open the door to allow this to happen.

Philip Jackson

Cross Hills.