CAMPAIGNERS fighting to protect the NHS from a transatlantic trade deal are said to be ‘furious’ over claims that Wokingham’s MP has not taken firm action on the issue.
More than 1,400 people signed a petition set up by The People’s NHS last year calling on John Redwood MP to oppose the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which campaigners say poses a ‘real and serious’ threat to Britain’s sovereignty over the NHS.
This week, The People’s NHS revealed that it had seen new legal advice from one of the UK’s top lawyers showing a ‘real and serious risk’ to future governments wishing to take the NHS back into public hands.
A spokesperson for the campaign group said in a statement: “The TTIP trade deal is being negotiated behind closed doors, between EU bureaucrats and delegates from the United States. It is the largest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated and threatens to make the on-going privatisation of the NHS irreversible. TTIP could 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.
“Residents want their local MP to demand to see the government’s legal advice which is being withheld from the public. John Redwood MP should call for its release and demand David Cameron takes the NHS out of TTIP.”
Former NHS GP Ron Singer said: “Alarming legal advice shows that Britain’s sovereignty over the NHS is being sold down the river by faceless EU bureaucrats to Wall Street. A supposed Eurosceptic MP is doing nothing to defend our local health services from this attack. John Redwood’s failures to act actually makes it look as if he wants the NHS to be irreversibly sold-off.
“Local residents have signed petitions, sent letters, attended protests and asked for help at local surgeries but their genuine concerns about the NHS and TTIP have been repeatedly rebutted by Mr Redwood. With the release of this legal advice his earlier assertion that the NHS is “Expressly ruled out” of the trade deal is now shown to be incorrect and our NHS is at risk of an irreversible sell-off.
“If John Redwood is against TTIP, he must now protest to David Cameron in the strongest terms because the people of Wokingham do not believe it is right for our NHS to be put at risk of irreversible privatisation.”
“If John Redwood is serious about his concerns about the EU then he should demand that David Cameron acts and protects the NHS from the EU trade deal called TTIP.”
To find out more about the People’s NHS campaign visit www.peoplesnhs.org.
