Health Secretary Wes Streeting had promised that “the NHS is not on the table,” that services would not be cut to fund the deal, and that the cost would be around £1 billion a year.
All three pledges now appear false.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it does not recognise the figures but has not published its own impact assessment despite repeated requests from MPs.
The lack of democratic scrutiny has been striking. No select committee inquiry, no Commons debate until this week, and minimal media coverage.
Over the past six months, national newspapers published only eight stories on the deal, compared with 274 stories on whether Streeting would become the next Labour leader.
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As the UK prepares for a new prime minister, the question remains whether the deal, cooked up in private and shrouded in secrecy, will stand.
