British trade unions and campaigners joined Europe-wide pressure yesterday against TTIP, the dodgy EU-US trade deal which hands transnational corporations power over elected governments.

More than 370 organisations and 1.5 million people have now declared their opposition to the controversial Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which will force governments to open up all public services to the private sector.

Latest resistance comes in an open letter to members of the European Parliament, who are due to debate TTIP. It has been signed by 375 organisations including trade unions and consumer, environmental and civil-rights organisations from 25 countries.

They include British unions Unison and the GMB, War on Want, the Soil Association, National Hazards Campaign, Health Poverty Action, and Breast Cancer UK.

The letter calls on Euro-MPs to protect citizens, workers, and the environment from the threats TTIP poses.

It states in part: “We call on all MEPs to agree on a strong resolution that makes clear that the European Parliament will reject any future trade or investment agreements that will not serve the public interest and threaten important rights acquired in long democratic struggles in the European Union, United States and the rest of the world.”

Negotiations on TTIP between the EU and the US are being conducted in secret but a steady trickle of leaks has revealed the huge extent of the ramifications if the deal goes through.

Guy Taylor of British campaign Global Justice Now said: “In their rush to deliver a trade deal that pleases the big corporations, EU negotiators are ignoring potentially disastrous consequences for ordinary people across both the EU and the US. Food and environmental standards are at risk, and public services could be sacrificed as well.

“MEPs must oppose TTIP at every turn if they wish to represent the interests of their constituents over the wealthy top one per cent of society.”

Pia Eberhardt of lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory said: “TTIP is an attempted corporate coup d’etat where big business on both sides of the Atlantic is trying to achieve in secret negotiations what it could not get in open and democratic processes — from watering down food safety standards to rolling back regulations in the financial sector.”