Health campaigners protest at MP Graham Brady's surgery over NHS 'sell-off' worries

About 15 members of No Health Sell-off and 38 degrees went along to Graham Brady's surgery on Friday November 6 to protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and its possible effects on the NHS.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States.

The campaign group said this treaty threatens to make privatisation of the NHS irreversible by ‘giving the profits of corporations’ precedence over national lawmakers’.

Dave Eatock, member of No Health Sell-off, said: “Trafford General Hospital is recognised as the birthplace of the NHS. The people of Altrincham and Sale West oppose the irreversible sell-off of our NHS and are urging Graham Brady to demand that David Cameron uses his veto to get the NHS out of TTIP.

“Health campaigners and local communities across the UK have been taking a stand against the NHS being part of TTIP. Many Tory MPs are fully aware of the local opposition to the inclusion of the NHS in the deal. David Cameron has run out of excuses. He can protect the NHS by using his veto in Europe to get our health service out of this trade deal. It’s time David Cameron put the NHS ahead of the interests of US corporations.”

The campaigners handed in a petition and letters to Mr Brady at his surgery at Altrincham Town Hall. They were invited inside by Mr Brady and he spent about 20 minutes speaking to the people present, listening to various concerns and responding to some of the points.

Following the surgery, Mr Brady said: “In my view, if this proposed transatlantic treaty can open trade fairly, it may prove beneficial to both sides. My constituents raised a number of concerns about the establishment of a new court which might enforce trade agreements against the decision of democratic institutions. I think it is important that our national institutions retain ultimate sovereignty.”