GREEN party leader Natalie Bennett warned yesterday that fracking giants could claim huge sums of taxpayers’ cash under the planned EU-US trade deal. 

Ms Bennett said plans for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would be a “disaster” for democracy, public services and the environment at a public meeting at the Unite union’s London headquarters. 

Forcing the government to approve fracking sites across Britain or cough up huge amounts of compensation to companies will be among its many consequences, she said. 

“It could leave governments facing enormous bills for upholding what we know is the democratic will of the people,” Ms Bennett told the Star before the meeting. 

“Even more pernicious will be the fact that it will discourage the government from enacting legislation and regulation in the first place. 

“Any government thinking we’re going to face a BP, Shell or Unilever and all of their legal mite is going to say that looks too difficult.

“It will just be sand in the wheels of democratic decision-making.” 

The Green leader insisted shale gas is “never going to be a significant part of Britain’s energy future” whether TTIP is forced through or not. 

But she warned the trade deal will be a further set back to investing in clean energy sources and technology that could make it cheaper. 

While the focus of yesterday’s meeting was on the environmental effects of TTIP, Ms Bennett also rammed home the social consequences of the trade deal. 

She was clear “it could mean is the forced privatisation of public services like the NHS — that would be a disaster for everyone who uses it.”

The latest warning over TTIP comes as a House of Lords European Union select committee will call on the government to drive through the deal. 

Its report claimed that the removal trade tariffs will provide a “substantial boost to employment” and benefit consumers by “widening choice and increasing competition.”

But the Lords admitted the project is “losing momentum” and Tory committee chairman Lord Tugendhat urged the Prime Minister to “commit more energy to spelling out the potential benefits to the public and to small businesses in this country.”