CAMPAIGNERS have targeted Winsford to gather support to oppose a controversial transatlantic trade deal that could see parts of the NHS privatised.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), is a trade agreement between the US and Europe, which could lead the way to the privatisation of public services, including the NHS.

Campaign group No Health Sell Off North West recently gathered around 300 signatures in Winsford town centre, and has since doubled that amount by going door-to-door in the area.

Cathy Miller, a campaigner No Health Sell Off North West, said: “TTIP is quite complicated, but once you explain to people what it could mean if the deal is approved then people sign up.

“There’s a lot of support for our NHS. The NHS is obviously close to everyone’s heart.”

The deal, which is the largest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated, is currently being negotiated behind closed doors between EU bureaucrats and delegates from the United States.

Campaigners say TTIP could also grant American multinationals, or any firm with American investors, the power to sue nations if they enact laws that limit a corporation’s profit-making ability.

Cheshire West and Chester Councillor Stephen Burns has lent his support to No Health Sell Off North West’s campaign, saying he is ‘totally against any form of privatisation of a public service’.

He said: “If TTIP is passed then it won’t be privatised completely, but small sections will be privatised. It’s privatisation by stealth.

“The worse-case scenario is that you’re going to get parts of the NHS sold off to private companies. The problem is when you start doing that then that’s when the shareholders get involved.

“And when shareholders get involved then profits start being taken from the business, so then funds won’t be there to provide the quality of service that should be delivered.”

No Health Sell Off North West is now calling on Winsford MP Stephen O’Brien to demand David Cameron uses his veto powers to exclude the NHS from the trade deal.

Cathy said: “We want all the parliamentary candidates to give a pledge that they are against any privatisation.

“We have one of the best health care systems in the world. You only have to go to America and see what it’s like there. We need to protect our NHS.”