The stitch-up of the shady EU-US trade deal that would see big business swallow public services can still be stopped, a Green MEP insisted yesterday.

Jean Lambert joined trade union leaders to raise the alarm over the impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on services and jobs.

RMT leader Mick Cash and Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner were among the speakers at the Trade Unions Against TTIP meeting in London last night.

They warned that TTIP will damage workers’ rights and speed up the race the bottom in wages on both sides of the Atlantic.

Echoing their concerns, Ms Lambert said the deal is based on the “discredited belief that free trade is good for growth and jobs” and would hand power to big business.

But the MEP for London insisted a deal is not “inevitable” and said campaigning was taking its toll on Brussels’ bureaucrats.

She said: “?Public pressure has brought greater transparency to the process and it’s clear that this pressure is having an effect on decision-makers — which is good news and shows that this agreement is not inevitable.

?”Both national governments and the European Commission feel under pressure so we need to keep the pressure on.?”

The Investor State Dispute Settlement is widely viewed as the most damaging part of TTIP.

It would allow privateers to sue national governments if they took democratic decisions that affect their profits, such as renationalising the railways.

The clause is also included in a similar but less well-known deal between the EU and Canada.

The World Development Movement (WDM) also held a packed public meeting in London last night as part of their bid to turn the tide on TTIP.

Addressing activists, Labour MP Geraint Davies said: “Yes let’s trade but not trade our sovereignty, our liberty, our democracy into the pockets of multinationals.

“We will not stand by and let corporations, unconstrained by democracy, burn the hard-won historic rights of the people on the altar of profit that they worship.”

WDM said pressure had already forced politicians to pledge to pull the NHS from the deal.

But she added: “This is not enough — public services must come out of TTIP altogether.”

TTIP’s effect on workers

Director of the Institute of Employment Rights Carolyn Jones told the Star: “Deregulation always leads to lower standards in the workplace, whether that’s in terms of pay, conditions or equality.

“The US has only signed up to two of the eight core trade union and freedom rights.

“The US unions are celebrating the deal because they think it means their workers get some of the same rights we have in Europe.”

She also reported that this attitude was the same that British unions took when the government signed up to the European social charter.

“But that’s not what happens. These deals always lead to a downwards spiral in employment rights.”