SIGNING the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will open the government up to costly legal defeats simply for holding companies to account, general union Unite warned yesterday.

General secretary Len McCluskey said payouts like the £220 million Britain was ordered to hand over to US defence giant Raytheon on Monday could become the norm.

The Con-Dem coalition terminated Raytheon’s contract to electronically monitor Britain’s borders after concluding it was doing a poor job.

But the firm took the government to a secret arbitration tribunal in a process that could be repeated in key public services such as the NHS if TTIP goes ahead.

“Taxpayers have been left facing a £220m bill — yet this disastrous result could be just the tip of the iceberg if the NHS is not safeguarded from a new trade deal,” Mr McCluskey cautioned.

“David Cameron must act now by exempting the NHS before our services are handed over to profiteering private health firms forever.”