UNITE has stepped up its bid to keep the NHS out of TTIP.

Tory Prime Minister David Cameron has refused to agree to keep public healthcare out of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal.

And while politicians including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have signed an agreement to keep the NHS from the grasp of US privateers, Mr Cameron has ducked the issue.

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: “David Cameron needs to add action to warm words.

“Expert legal advice confirms that there are clear dangers arising from TTIP that could impact the NHS unless political leaders are ready to use the veto to deliver a robust carve-out.

“The NHS unites us all. The people of this country do not believe it is right for the NHS to be part of this trade deal.”

And legal experts have slammed the deal for undermining European law, warning that it could wreak havoc with countries’ economies.

Lawyer Laurens Ankersmit, from environmental law firm ClientEarth, explained how investors would gain the whip hand over governments via a legal instrument, the investor-state dispute settlement, which is enshrined in TTIP.

He said: It is a discriminatory legal tool … it sidelines the EU courts and gifts businesses with a quick route to legal damages that could run to billions of euros.”