In his letter (Your Say, February 19), Paul Burstow MP, apparently unaware David Cameron said in Washington DC that nothing is excluded from the TTIP negotiations, says: “Some believe TTIP will open the NHS up to privatisation.
If it did I would oppose it.
The Government has been clear TTIP will have no impact on the NHS.”
He must, or if he does not he should, know that under the “national treatment” rule of tradein- services, US health care providers would be given an equal footing with those in the UK, including having equal access to tax breaks and Government subsidies.
In addition, if NHS services are opened up to transnational investors through TTIP, as appears highly likely given the PM’s words, the commitment to “market access” extends to maintaining this opening: what has been liberalised will become permanent.
The UK Health and Social Care Act, which he voted in, effectively liberalises the market via compulsory competitive tendering, and so an already marketised NHS would become irreversible under TTIP.
Further, the inclusion of a form of investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) within TTIP would give US corporations the power to sue any public sector organisation, such as a CCG or Government (ultimately the taxpayer) that threatens their corporate interests, including any potential loss of future earnings from, say, new safety regulations.
I hope Mr Burstow will now oppose TTIP.
DAVID MURRAY
Blenheim Gardens, Wallington
- Send your letters to: letters@suttonguardian.co.uk
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