Use veto to save NHS call

Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for the NHS, it was confirmed, on September 1, that the NHS is indeed part of the transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP).

The announcement was made by Lord Livingston at a business department press conference. The trade minister claimed it was “not necessary” to exempt the NHS from TTIP – and now Unite and health campaigners fear the free trade pact will open up the NHS to profit-hungry American firms.

TTIP, negotiated behind the closed doors of the European Commission, between EU bureaucrats and delegates from the United States, is the largest bilateral trade deal ever.

It threatens to make privatisation of the NHS irreversible by giving the profits of corporations precedence over national lawmakers.

Secret courts would grant American multinationals, or any firm with American investors, the power to sue the government if it ever attempted to take privatised health services back into public ownership.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said, “It is an outrage that this government is prepared to expose our NHS to US companies and Wall Street investors.”

Labour MP Grahame Morris, who sits on the Commons health committee, warned, “This is a sinister trade deal.

“If it goes through without any changes, it will make the privatisation of services like the NHS irreversible.”

Unite has called on David Cameron to use his veto to exempt the NHS. In France the government has already used its veto to exclude the French film industry.

“Now that the government has finally admitted that the NHS is not exempt from the controversial trade deal called TTIP, Cameron must act on voter’s concerns and get an exemption for the NHS without fail,” Len McCluskey said.

Lord Livingston tried to downplay the impact on the NHS, saying, “There’s absolutely no need to exclude the NHS, because it will not be impacted.”

He said he wanted the NHS included in the deal so that Britain could sell healthcare services in the US. But Unite said it was clear the Tories were not interested in protecting the NHS.

Len McCluskey said, “The people of this country didn’t vote for selling-off our NHS, and they didn’t vote to make the sell-off irreversible by giving US companies the right to sue us in secret courts.”

“Lord Livingston tried to claim the NHS won’t be affected, in that case why is the NHS included in the deal and why can’t the government just take the NHS out of TTIP?

“The government needs to stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes and veto the inclusion of the NHS in TTIP now.”

The government says TTIP will be worth ÂŁ100bn a year to the EU and ÂŁ80bn to the US.

In a recent Survation poll, across 13 marginal Conservative-held seats, respondents were asked if the NHS should be excluded from the deal. Nearly 70 per cent said it should be excluded.