Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday night clashed over which of them was best placed to safeguard the National Health Service (NHS) if they win the general election in Britain.

In a testy live debate televised on ITV, Corby who is the Labour leader accusing Prime Minister Johnson of being ready to sell the NHS it off to corporations in the United States.

Throughout the debate, Johnson continually tried to bring the focus back to Brexit, on which Corbyn repeatedly declined to say how he would campaign in a second European Union referendum.

As both parties tried to seize the initiative over the NHS, Corbyn brandished a document he claimed showed that US negotiators hoped to secure full access to Britain’s health sector as part of a bilateral trade deal after Brexit.

“Full market access for US products to our National Health Service. You’re going to sell our National Health Service to the United States and big pharma,” Corby accused Johnson.

Johnson replied: “This is an absolute invention. It is completely untrue. Under no circumstances whatever will this government, or any Conservative government, put the NHS on the table in any trade negotiation. Our NHS will never be for sale.

“We will continue to fund the NHS massively, as we are. We can only do so because we have a strong and dynamic economy.

“And he sought to suggest that Labour’s radical reforms to the economy would wreck the public finances. What could be more ruinous for the NHS than a crackpot plan for a four-day week.”

Corbyn also picked up Johnson for repeating the heavily disputed claim that the government was building 40 new hospitals.

The Labour leader said the Tory plans affected only six existing hospitals. Johnson rejected this claim but added: “Yes, it is true. We are starting with six but the seed funding has gone in for 40 new hospitals.”

Corbyn also challenged Johnson’s timetable for Brexit, arguing that it would take much longer to negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU.

In return, the Prime Minister repeatedly asked Corbyn to answer the question of whether he would support a Brexit deal.

Corbyn firmly declined to say which side he would take in that referendum, instead insisting he wanted to bring the country together and would abide by whatever decision voters made.

With election day just over three weeks away and the Conservatives maintaining a double-digit lead in most national polls, Corbyn hoped the debate would help him to close the gap.