From Megan Bentall of petitioning website 38 Degrees
Here’s a scary prospect:
The NHS being carved up by more and more private companies. Coke or other mega corporations taking our government to the cleaners because they don’t like how strict our laws are.
Sound far-fetched? A huge new trade deal is being negotiated right now between the US and the EU, that could make that scary prospect a reality. [1] The deal’s called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - its a fancy name for a sinister trade deal.
Under the deal, US healthcare companies trying to provide NHS services could sue our government for passing a law to put a stop to privatisation. Or big businesses could sue the government for raising the minimum wage - if it hurts their profits. [2]
Business Minister Vince Cable’s department is in charge of TTIP in the UK. He’ll decide what we sign up to - he could make or break the deal. If he hears how important TTIP is to the public, he might do the right thing and fix or scrap TTIP.
A huge petition is the first step in showing Vince that we’re watching him closely. Can you take two minutes to add your name to a petition telling him to fix or scrap TTIP now? Click here:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/petition-ttip
It’d be easy to fix this deal. Vince could take a stand against businesses being able to sue the government, like Germany has done recently. [3] Or he could call for the NHS and public services to be completely removed from the deal, like the French government did when they got some areas excluded. [4]
So let’s push TTIP into the spotlight and force Vince’s hand. Already thousands of us have chipped in and raised £100,000 for an ad campaign launching in the Autumn. [5] But we need to keep the pressure mounting. We need to tell Vince Cable to fix or scrap this deal.
Click here to add your name to the petition:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/petition-ttip
Thanks for being involved,
Megan, Susannah, Blanche & the 38 Degrees team
NOTES:
[1] The Independent: British sovereignty ‘at risk’ from EU-US trade deal: UK in danger of surrendering judicial independence to multinational corporations, warn activists:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/british-sovereignty-at-risk-from-euus-trade-deal-uk-in-danger-of-surrendering-judicial-independence-to-multinational-corporations-warn-activists-9057318.html
Open Democracy: On TTIP and the NHS, they are trying to bamboozle us:
https://opendemocracy.net/ournhs/john-hilary/on-ttip-and-nhs-they-are-trying-to-bamboozle-us
[2] Touchstone: Special courts for foreign investors have no place in trade deals:
http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2013/11/special-courts-for-foreign-investors-have-no-place-in-trade-deals/
[3] ipolitics: Germany throws down gauntlet in CETA investor state negotiations:
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2014/07/27/germany-throws-down-gauntlet-in-ceta-investor-state-negotiations/
[4] Screen Daily: EU-US free trade talks under fire from filmmakers:
http://www.screendaily.com/news/eu-us-free-trade-talks-under-fire/5072471.article
[5] 38 Degrees blog: TTIP fundraiser:
http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2014/06/17/ttip-fundraiser/
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