Who would’ve thought we’d still be talking about Brexit? However, recent events have got me worried about the future of our NHS in Scotland and the world-class Golden Jubilee Hospital here in Clydebank.

Our NHS faces an unprecedented threat of privatisation.

Details have emerged of secret meetings between UK Government trade officials and trade officials from the USA.

Information leaked by a public spirited individual shows numerous, undeclared, meetings have taken place in London and Washington. It’s telling that those involved in the discussions were instructed, in coded language, to use certain wording when discussing the NHS; a sleekit attempt to pull the wool over our eyes. Tories are not to be trusted.

These secret meetings are the thin edge of the wedge to privatisation of our health service. Crucially, the Scottish Parliament has no powers to stop privatisation in Scotland as the budget is set by Westminster based on what is spent on the English NHS.

So, if the UK Government sells off the NHS in England, that means plummeting funding for the NHS here. If Scotland were an independent country it would be different, we would decide what happened to our NHS.

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It’s clear the UK would be, by far, the weaker partner in any trade negotiations with the United States. Boris Johnson and the Tories are desperate for a trade deal and Donald Trump is on record as saying American private health corporations should take over running the NHS.

That’s a price the Tories would be willing to pay to secure a deal.

The USA spends considerably more per head of population on health care than any other developed country, but for all that money they deliver much poorer health, falling life expectancy and rising infant mortality.

They spend much more money to get much worse results, is that really the model we want Scotland dragged into?

Currently we can block American drugs that are not good value and use cheaper alternatives, saving the NHS billions of pounds. Under a US trade deal the price our NHS pays for medicines could soar - this would cost the UK Government more than £27 billion.

In the States, they spend less on GPs and preventative treatment despite all the research showing the more you spend on prevention and on GPs, the better health the people enjoy and the lower the overall cost of your healthcare system.

In the USA they check your wallet before they check your pulse.

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The Tories are putting us in great danger of our health service going private and that would mean the end of the world-class Golden Jubilee Hospital (pictured above).

What’s crystal clear is that the toxic Tories need to go and the only way to protect our public services is by becoming an independent European country.