Petitioners call on MP to keep NHS out of EU trade deal

Campaigners claim the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal threatens the irreversible privatisation of Britain’s health service.

Spokeswoman for the campaigners, Sue Richardson, said: “The TTIP trade deal poses a real threat to the NHS. Almost 1,000 residents have signed a petition calling on our local MP to get to grips with that threat.

“Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the local MP, is a critic of the EU, but has not joined the calls to protect the NHS from the EU trade deal called TTIP, which threatens the NHS with irreversible privatisation.

“She must also call for the release of the legal advice being withheld by the Government about the NHS and TTIP.

“If Anne-Marie is serious about her concerns about the EU then she will stand up for our NHS and demand that David Cameron acts and protects the NHS from the EU trade deal called TTIP.”

The TTIP deal is being negotiated between EU bureaucrats and delegates from the United States.

Campaigners claim TTIP could grant American multinationals, or any firm with US investors, the power to sue the government if it ever tried to take privatised health services back into public ownership.