A general view of a packed House of Lords. Picture: PA

THE UK government has been accused in the House of Lords of bullying Jersey out of the reciprocal health agreement with the UK.

In a debate on Monday, Conservative peer Lord Cope of Berkeley urged the Labour government to reopen negotiations with the Crown Dependencies and restore the deals.

The UK ended the deal on 1 April last year, saying that it was costing them £3.8 million a year. As a result, Islanders travelling to the UK require health insurance to  cover any medical treatment that they may need apart from emergency care.

During the debate Lord Cope, who was paymaster general in the John Major government between 1992 and 1994, said: ‘My Lords, does the minister recognise that while it may be fair enough for one of Her Majesty’s governments – the one over there – to renegotiate these agreements with others of Her Majesty’s elected governments in these dependencies, it is not fair for them simply to bully them in the way that they are doing? Will they now negotiate these things properly with the dependencies?’