Lib Dems call on Keir Starmer to cancel £3bn “Trump tax” on NHS and invest in fixing social care instead

EMBARGO: 22.30 1 Jan 2026

• UK-US drugs pricing deal will see NHS pay out at least £3bn a year more in higher medicine costs 
• Lib Dems warn that Keir Starmer has “found billions to pay off the bully in the White House but has still not found the funds to fix social care”
• Figures reveal the dire impact of social care crisis on NHS one year on from launch of cross-party talks, with 4 million hospital bed days lost to delays leaving hospital in 2025 and thousands tragically dying waiting for care

The Liberal Democrats are calling on Keir Starmer to cancel a deal with the US that will see the NHS paying billions of pounds more in higher drug prices in the coming years, and to invest  money in fixing social care instead.

The Government has agreed to a deal that will force the NHS to pay £3 billion a year in higher drug prices to pharmaceuticals, an act of total surrender to the White House. The Liberal Democrats warned that the Prime Minister is prioritising placating Donald Trump over fixing the crisis in social care. The party is calling on Starmer to cancel the “Trump Tax” and allocate this funding to the NHS and social care instead.

The Government launched a cross-party commission on social care almost exactly one year ago (3rd January 2025). But since then talks have stalled with only one cross-party meeting being held, while thousands of people remain stuck in hospital beds waiting for care. The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Prime Minister to personally get a grip of the crisis and lead the cross-party talks himself.

Analysis of official NHS data by the Liberal Democrats have revealed the dire impact of the social care crisis on the NHS while the government continues to kick the can down the road. In 2025, patients who were medically fit to leave spent the equivalent of a staggering 4.34 million days stuck in hospital. Almost 900,000 people had their requests for care denied in the financial year 2024-25, and more than 6,000 people tragically died while waiting for care to be approved.

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper MP said:

“Keir Starmer has found billions of pounds to pay off the bully in the White House but has still not found the funds to fix social care. He needs to personally get a grip of this crisis, end this negligence and finally show whose side he’s on.

“A year on from the announcement of the commission into adult social care, families are still picking up the pieces of a broken social care system and the tax-payer is picking up the tab for patients unnecessarily stuck in hospital beds.

“Far from ‘transforming’ social care, this Government continues to kick the can down the road just like the Conservatives who came before them.

“Leaving hospital patients to be treated on crammed hospital corridors, waiting hours for an ambulance, or stuck for weeks and months in a hospital bed is nothing short of negligence. Starmer must fix social care now.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

A summary of the UK-US pharmaceutical deal can be found here. A study by The Lancet has estimated this will cost the NHS £3 billion a year in higher drug prices by 2029.

The government has refused to set out what the impact of the drugs price rise will be for NHS patients, in response to a written parliamentary question in November.

The government announcement of a social care commission on 3 Jan 2025 can be found here. Liberal Democrats had demanded that the review be completed within a year. With talks stalling and only one cross-party meeting has taken place all year, the party are calling on the Prime Minister to personally lead the discussions.

In the announcement of the pharmaceutical price hike, RFK Jr, Trump’s Health Secretary, praised the “President Trump’s courage and leadership in demanding these reforms…delivering results that puts Americans first”.

Liberal Democrat analysis of NHS data on delayed discharges can be found here.

Data here

Original source for delayed discharge stats here

Original source for numbers denied care here