TTIP-ing point

The Scottish Government is right to fear the threat to the NHS under the controversial TTIP trade deal (your report, 31 October).

Under a similar ­system, the government of ­Slovakia has already been sued for reversing the privatisation of its own health system.

But parallel legal systems like that proposed by TTIP have also led to governments being sued over a wide range of other ­decisions.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris is currently suing the Australia n government for introducing plain packaging on cigarettes and the Uruguayan government for simply printing a health warning.

Argentina has been sued for freezing energy prices to protect consumers from spiralling costs.

Waste and energy company ­Veolia sued Egypt for introducing a minimum wage.

Governments exist to make decisions in the public interest, and we must defend their ability to do so without fear of being hit for billions of pounds by a firm that doesn’t like the decision.

In little more than two weeks, three quarters of a ­million ­people across Europe have signed a petition calling on the EU to scrap this wildly unpopular trade deal.

Liz Murray

World Development 
Movement Scotland

Edinburgh