Get the NHS out of TTIP

As one of his final acts as First Minister for Scotland, Alex Salmond has written to David Cameron to urge the prime minister to once and for all end the threat that TTIP poses to the NHS.

 
Inclusion of the health service in the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – an EU-US trade deal, currently being negotiated in secret – would make privatisation of the NHS irreversible.

 
In the letter, Salmond wrote, “Scotland must not be bound into a trade deal that threatens the public ownership of the NHS and could undermine the democratic decisions of the Scottish people.”

 
Using his veto power, Cameron can easily exclude the NHS from the trade agreement, which is set to be the largest bilateral trade agreement every negotiated.

 
Thus far, however, the Tories and the Liberal Democrats are the only political parties across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to support the trade deal.

 
In his letter, Salmond expressed concerns about the trade deal’s investor state dispute mechanisms (ISDS), which enable private companies to sue governments in secret courts.

 
Challenging Cameron’s previous vague assurances that the NHS would not be threatened if included in TTIP, Salmond highlighted a recent precedent.

 
“I understand the Slovakian government was sued when it brought the Slovak health insurance system back into public hands,” Salmond said in his letter.

 
“Such actions restrict the rights of government to legislate in the public interest and their ability to bring privatised services back into public hands,” he went on to say.

 
“This is unacceptable and is made worse by the deeply undemocratic nature of the corporate arbitration panels which oversee a process outside national law and with no right of appeal.”

 
Salmond’s successor, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, reiterated the Scottish government’s position on TTIP in a tweet last night, saying it vehemently opposes the inclusion of the NHS in the trade deal.

 
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey argued the Scottish government’s reiteration of its position on TTIP adds to the growing consensus across the country that the health service must be excluded from future trade deals.

 
“From Dundee to Devon people are demanding that David Cameron uses his veto to exclude the NHS from TTIP,” Len McCluskey said. “There is a backlash against this trade deal across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

 
Indeed, this backlash was reflected in a recent Survation poll carried out in August this year, which questioned 2,600 voters across 13 marginal Conservative-held seats. Respondents were asked whether the NHS should be excluded from the deal.

 
Across all constituencies, of those who stated a view – 68 per cent said they opposed the inclusion of the NHS as part of the deal.

 
“Parties from across the political spectrum oppose the NHS being part of a trade deal that threatens the irreversible privatisation of the NHS,” McCluskey added. “The Liberal Democrats and the Tories are more interested in being on the side of US corporations looking to buy up our NHS than being on the side of voters. It’s time for David Cameron and Nick Clegg to act.”