“Cameron accepts TTIP amendment to mollify rebel Tory MPs
Revolt over lack of bill to protect NHS from EU trade deal threatened PM with first defeat on Queen’s speech since 1924
David Cameron has moved to quell a rebellion by Conservative Eurosceptics over a controversial trade deal between the EU and US, after he faced the first government defeat on a Queen’s speech since 1924.
The prime minister has been forced to accept a critical amendment about the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) after it was signed by 25 Tory backbenchers, and backed by Labour, SNP and Green MPs.
The politicians, led by the Conservative former cabinet minister Peter Lilley, expressed regret that the government did not include a bill in the Queen’s speech that would protect the NHS from the deal.
A No 10 spokesman said: “As we’ve said all along, there is no threat to the NHS from TTIP. So if this amendment is selected, we’ll accept it.”
But members of the official campaign to leave the EU, Vote Leave, said they were not reassured by the statement. Steve Baker, one of the signatories on the amendment and a leading figure for Brexit, said that by accepting the amendment the government was conceding that the trade deal did represent a risk for Britain’s health service. …”
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