IN response to recent letters on TTIP, regarding the free trade agreement between the US and the EU, currently being negotiated on behalf of EU citizens by the European Commission.

I would like to quote a brief passage from an article on the Law Society Gazette from March, 2014, ((www.lawgazette.co.uk) written by Melanie Strickland, a solicitor at a health charity.

"Charges may come about quickly. It is intended that the TTIP be concluded in 2015. The window to input these negotiations is very short."

I very much fear that once the treaty is ratified then we will not be able to protect our NHS or any other publicly owned utility from the rapacious grip of international "investors."

Cllr F Henderson,

Westhoughton.