No to NHS sell-off

Despite Tory leaders’ continued reluctance to save the NHS from the US-EU trade deal that would signal irreversible privatisation of the health service, voters have spoken and their opinion on TTIP is a resounding ‘no’.

 
An exclusive poll conducted by Survation for Unite found that in prime minister David Cameron’s constituency Witney and in health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s South West Surrey constituency, there is massive opposition to the inclusion of the NHS in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

 
As UNITElive has reported before, Cameron can easily use his veto power in Europe to prevent the NHS from falling into the scope of the trade agreement.

 
The agreement, which is being hammered out behind closed doors, will be the largest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated and would give American multinationals unprecedented powers to sue the government if it every attempted to take privatised health services back into public ownership.

 
The poll of 2000 people, conducted in early November over a one-week period, found that strong majorities in both constituencies opposed the inclusion of the NHS in TTIP and expected Cameron to use his veto power to exempt the health service.

 
73 per cent of those polled in Witney opposed the inclusion of the NHS in the trade deal, while 70 per cent in South West surrey opposed it. The poll also found that, across both constituencies, local NHS services are by far the most important issue for voters.

 
“Even in these Conservative constituencies there is massive opposition to the NHS being part of the trade deal,” said Unite general secretary Len McCluskey. “David Cameron’s and Jeremy Hunt’s constituents expect them to act and veto the NHS from TTIP.”

 
McCluskey argued that the NHS unites the country and voters will not stand for any threats to the service come the general election in May.

 
“The Prime Minister has cut himself adrift from public opinion by refusing to listen to the public,” McCluskey said. “They are demanding that he vetoes the NHS out of TTIP. Unite has polled 17 Tory seats and in every case voters oppose the NHS being part of TTIP.”

 
“David Cameron has claimed that there is ‘no threat’ to the NHS from TTIP,” he added. “If this is true, why doesn’t Cameron just remove the NHS from the trade deal? Other countries have vetoed sectors from the trade deal. The government has failed to give one decent reason why the NHS should be in this trade deal.”

 
See here for the full results of the Survation poll.

 
Stay tuned on UNITElive.org for the latest on TTIP.