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WTO ‘may hasten NHS privatisation’

Leading academics have called for a public debate on the potential impact of World Trade Organisation agreements on the NHS and other public services.

Writing the Lancet, researchers from University College London say that the WTO has drawn up regulatory proposals which will force member countries – including the UK – to open up their public services to foreign investors and corporate competition.

‘It is essential that politicians, public health activists and civil servants open up to public scrutiny the WTO regulatory reform negotiations,’ they argue.

But minister for overseas development Clare Short has denied that the WTO negotiations would require public services to be broken up.