South Dorset MP Richard Drax was among 337 MPs who voted against passing a clause to protect the NHS during Brexit trade deals.

Backed by Labour, the Green Party put forward an amendment to the trade bill that would have created a law to protect the NHS during trade deals with other countries, to prevent medication price hikes, staff pay cuts, and patient data being sold - as well as ensuring that healthcare remains free at the point of delivery for UK patients.

Politicians in favour of the clause say this now leaves swathes of the NHS open to privatisation - however Mr Drax disputes this and said the attempt to amend the trade bill is "disingenuous."

"The Labour Party - has been saying since the General Election that we are trying to sell off the NHS - this is simply not true.

"It was Labour Party that lumbered the NHS with billions of pounds worth of PFI (under Tony Blair's Government) which we are still suffering from today - so it is rich for them to start pointing fingers at us when we have poured in countless of billions of pounds into the NHS.

"The NHS will never, ever be on the table in any trade deal under this Government. That includes the price we pay for drugs."

The Government has said this trade bill only applies to EU countries with whom Britain already has a trade relationship - not the US.

Asked whether the rejection of the clause could send a message to the US that the NHS could be open for future negotiation, Mr Drax added:

"The whole point of this trade deal is to ensure we have flexibility in future trade agreements to strike deals around the world for the prosperity and wealth of this country. If we were to vote for an amendment every time it were put down by the opposition it would be a joke.

"I don't vote for Labour amendments - I'm a member of the Conservative party and we are the ruling party at the moment."

South Dorset Labour's Berny Parkes said the vote was a "missed opportunity" to protect the NHS in law.

"Jeremy Corbyn warned in 2018 that Donald Trump has expressed an interest in the NHS - this clause would have been a way of saying to the US and any other interested countries that the NHS is not for sale.

"This clause was put forward by the Green Party, not Labour, and would have been an opportunity for all parties to agree to take the NHS out of the political arena.

"If Mr Drax was serious about the NHS he would have supported a clause to send the message out loud and clear to NHS staff, to NHS patients and the US that the NHS is not up for negotiation."

Mr Parkes claimed: "We are heading for a major trade deal with America - patient data, the regulation of prices of medicines - it's so open to abuse -and this is the time to say, 'by the way, our NHS isn't up for negotiation'.

"Until the Government can come out and enshrine it in law, I don't believe them."

The rejected amendment aimed to protect the NHS from any form of control from outside the UK - other measures included:

* Providing “a comprehensive publicly funded health service free at the point of delivery”

* Protecting the pay, employment rights and terms and conditions of health and care staff

* Maintaining the quality and safety of health and care services

* Regulating and controlling pricing of medicines or medical devices

* Protecting patient and public health data being sold on

* Protecting the quality and safety of health and care services

* Protecting the NHS from ‘investor-state’ dispute settlements which allow foreign investors to sue national governments for any measures which harm their profits