Richard Howitt MEP and Lucy Anderson MEP joined Daniel Zeichner today to meet students, residents and campaigners concerned about the controversial EU-US transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP).

The proposed trade deal has sparked an unprecedented 150,000 objections in an EU-wide consultation exercise of which 52,000 came from Britain.

Top concerns for campaigners are protecting our public services, food safety, stopping a race to the bottom and secret courts.

Mr Zeichner said: “My email inbox shows this is a topic exercising Cambridge people.

That’s why I brought two politicians who will get to vote on the deal to Cambridge sto discuss this issue.

I have some major concerns about TTIP and spoke at a recent rally outside the Cambridge Guildhall organised by local trade unions to highlight the issue.

f you hear the Coalition speak about TTIP, you can only conclude that they are unable to understand the legitimate concerns of people who rely on the NHS for their health and need the rule of law and democracy to protect them. They say ‘there’s nothing to see here’ when we can all see the potential threats to what we cherish.

I understand trade talks can go badly wrong for consumers and workers and as someone who has spent my whole life fighting to protect our NHS and set boundaries on the power of corporations you have my word that I would only support TTIP if there were safeguards to categorically protect our public services and I could see the tangible benefits for Cambridge.

What I won’t do though, unlike some others, is just say a blanket no to TTIP before the text has even been written. A trade agreement like this could create jobs, lower the cost of everyday household items and open thousands of new opportunities for business in the UK. That’s why I’m prepared to give negotiations a chance.

Here are my red lines:

•A complete exemption for our NHS.
•Removing ISDS
•No race to the bottom on labour, consumer, environmental and safety standards.

A number of worries similar to my own have been raised by other European countries and these would need to be reflected to secure agreement and must be taken on board by the Trade Commissioner.”