Support Queen's speech amendment to protect NHS from TTIP

One of the biggest worries about TTIP, the secretive Transatlantic Trade deal, is the potential threat it poses to our NHS, National Health Service.

The Conservative government have failed to reassure the general public that the NHS is not threatened by the deal as it stands.

That same government has been holding a long-standing fire sale of Britain's assets.

The Queen's speech was more of the same - cut, cut and cut again, sell, sell and sell again, sometimes not even to the highest bidder - leaving the NHS in an ever increasingly vulnerable position.

All is not lost as far as protecting the NHS from TTIP goes but time is running out.

The request below asks that you contact David Cameron and let him know that you are backing an amendment to the Queen's speech that will protect the NHS from potential TTIP threats:

It’s all over the papers. Labour have tabled an amendment to the Queen’s Speech that would take the NHS out of TTIP, the EU-US trade deal. We have until Wednesday to ensure that David Cameron accepts it. Will you take two minutes NOW to add your voice to the thousands calling on him to act?

David Cameron is in a tight bind. If he fights this amendment, he is likely to lose. And that is the last thing he needs right now. The last person to lose one of these was Stanley Baldwin in 1924 and he had to resign as PM. But If Cameron accepts the amendment, he takes the issue of the NHS in TTIP off the table and we can be sure, however we vote in June, that the NHS is safe.

But to do the right thing, David Cameron needs to know that people care about this. So please write to Cameron today and ask him to accept the amendment. He has to make the decision soon, so we don’t have much time.

The Telegraph is reporting that at least 25 Tory MPs support this amendment. They told the newspapers about this. They clearly want to embarrass Cameron, but in doing so they’ve given us a great opening. Together we can make sure David Cameron does the right thing. We’ve pushed this issue to the top of the agenda. Now let’s get it done. Let’s give Cameron the chance to call his party’s bluff and protect the NHS for good.

Write to him today.

From Andrew at the People's NHS:
In the news today: Tory MPs Set To Back Amendment to Queen's Speech
This story has been covered extensively in the Guardian, the Telegraph, the Mirror, the Huffington Post and Sky.
This campaign is supported by Unite the union

Update Friday from JeremyCorbynforPM:

Another great win for Labour, led by Jeremy Corbyn - as Cameron folds and accepts the NHS amendment to the Queen's Speech.

But our opposition to TTIP doesn't stop there - as Jeremy said:

“I would personally go much further because my concerns about TTIP are not just about the effect on public services but also the principle of investor protection that goes within TTIP – planned rules which would in effect almost enfranchise global corporations at the expense of national governments. This protection of the NHS is an important step but it’s not the whole step.”

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/19/cameron-accepts-ttip-amendment-to-mollify-rebel-tory-mps

More at:
http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2015/04/new-evidence-nails-the-no-nhs-privatisation-lie/