JULIAN Sturdy (The Press, December 20) denies the NHS is being sold off. There are already parts of the NHS that have already been privatised and the TTIP will be the last straw in the coffin of the NHS as we all know it.

The TTIP will only be allowed control for a 15-year period and if it goes back in to NHS hands, for example, the TTIP will sue the Government for billions – in fact it could bankrupt this country.

The NHS belongs to all those people who have paid NI stamps all their working lives, not any government that imports outsiders who sponge off the NHS and not contribute to it financially and for this reason alone is why the NHS has finance problems.

Barry Bothamley, Chairman Yorkshire & Humber Pensioners’ Convention, Secretary Unite the Union Retired Members, York Branch.