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Watch: Did Labour’s NHS trade leak come from Russia?

One of Labour’s key messages throughout this election has been the future of the NHS. The party has used confidential US-UK trade documents to drive home their message that Boris Johnson wants to sell off parts of the health service to American businesses. But last night, social media experts told Reuters that the leak of these sensitive documents had the hallmarks of foreign interference.

Jeremy Corbyn has used the leaked paperwork as a campaigning prop on multiple occasions, including on the ITV leader’s debate last month. Having looked through the documents, Mr S has his own views on the veracity of Labour’s claims…

Earlier this morning, Labour frontbencher Laura Pidcock was invited on to Sky News where presenter Kay Burley asked the shadow minister where the document had come from. Pidcock told the news anchor:

These documents have been given to the Labour party, I’m not privy to any of that information. What I do know is that I am deeply concerned about the content…

These are official government documents, we know that is true don’t we? Nobody has refuted that, these are official government documents, so you can continue down the line of questioning about where they come from, I’ve already answered that – I am not privy to that information.

Reuters has said that they are unable to verify whether the documents are genuine. The government has refused to comment on their veracity.

When told that there were allegations that the documents had come from Russia, the shadow minister replied:

This is completely spurious… This is absolutely ridiculous, I am telling you these are official government documents… I think this is an absolute, massive distraction from the fundamental issue, which is that the NHS – our precious NHS – is not safe in the hands of a Tory government.

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