ENGLAND AND WALES — Thirty-one MPs have signed a House of Commons motion opposing Health Secretary Wes Streeting's new power to override the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on how much the NHS should spend on individual medicines. The power was granted through a statutory instrument tied to the UK-US drug-pricing deal struck with the administration of former President Donald Trump.

The prayer motion, tabled by former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, has been backed by Labour, Green, Liberal Democrat, Independent, Scottish Nationalist and Plaid Cymru MPs. The statutory instrument allows Streeting to direct NICE as to the applicable cost-effectiveness threshold to apply to a health technology undergoing appraisal. NICE was created in 1999 to serve as the arbiter of which medicines constitute value for money for the NHS to buy in England and Wales.

"One of the express purposes of establishing NICE was to insulate the NHS from the powerful and well-resourced lobbying of the pharmaceutical industry," McDonnell said. "The changes the government are making to NICE as a result of the US pharmaceutical deal undermine the independence of NICE, giving US big pharma the potential of immense influence over our drugs policies. This risks precious NHS resources being diverted away from life-saving practices and handed to drug companies instead, to the harm of patients."

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan said: "This change to NICE rules is clearly coming at the behest of Trump, not because the government thinks it will help patients." Opposition has also extended to the House of Lords, where former health secretary and current peer Andrew Lansley tabled a motion of regret warning that the regulations risk undermining NICE's independence and appear to be incompatible with the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Dr Samantha Roberts, chief executive of NICE, addressed the trade-offs involved in higher drug spending. "If you spend more money on medicines, it means something else is foregone," she said. "It could be hip replacement, it could be a nurse."

Ministers have defended the UK-US drug-pricing deal as a way of helping British drug exports to the US avoid tariffs and giving patients access to potentially life-extending drugs that would otherwise be denied. The Department of Health and Social Care denied that NICE's freedom would be compromised.

"NICE's independence is protected," a department spokesperson said. "It will continue to make its guidance and recommendations entirely free from political interference, as it always has, balancing the clinical effectiveness of a treatment with the cost to ensure taxpayers get a good deal."

The spokesperson added: "We have taken action to make it easier to bring innovative medicines to the NHS, meaning thousands of patients will gain improved access to life-changing treatments. This includes recently approving a brain cancer drug for patients as young as 12."