38 Degrees Campaign against TTIP

There is currently another 38 degrees campaign email doing the rounds about TTIP:

As a candidate in my local constituency, I would like you to oppose the TTIP trade deal. I’m really worried about the effect of TTIP (The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Patnership) on further privatisation of our NHS and public services, as well as the inclusion of an ISDS clause which could allow corporations to sue governments. A document leaked last week showed that the NHS still isn’t exempt from the deal.

You can read more about it here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/ttip-leaked Please can you tell me what you will do to stop this deal and protect our public services?

Our response to that:

We at YPP support free markets and free trade when it helps the Third World to develop; when it helps our exporters; and when it helps cut prices for domestic consumers.

But the TTIP is not about free markets or free trade, it is just the EU and the USA blatantly protecting the interests of the largest multinational corporations (including a few large UK corporations). We at YPP would revoke TTIP and its corporatist ramifications, and since we are committed to having a plebiscite on our continued membership of the EU this would be part of the way forward.

As to your specific example of the NHS, UK governments have illustrated just how expensive and damaging top down privatisation can be and what appalling value for taxpayers' money it is (PPP and PFI, anything involving Capita and so on). Nonetheless, we would support bottom up privatisation from the patient's point of view. So if private providers can provide care more cheaply, better or quicker than the NHS, then we support the old idea of the "patient passport" (taxpayer funded/private provision) which works so well in many other European countries.

Any comments please leave them below.