Europe Minister David Lidington denied yesterday that Britain’s NHS is under major threat from the proposed free trade treaty between the EU and the US.

“We do not envisage that there would be any significant change in the current position,” the Tory told concerned Labour MP Ian Lavery in the Commons.

Unions and labour movement campaigners are warning that the proposed neoliberal trade deal will open the floodgates for a further surge of privatisation throughout the public sector.

They fear that new rules will make it difficult or impossible to undo privatisations that have already taken place.

Mr Lavery urged ministers to use the option open to member states to exclude public services — and most importantly the NHS — from the scope of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Mr Lidington replied that Prime Minister David Cameron had already made clear that his objective was to make sure the health service provisions under TTIP would be “broadly in line with our existing obligations.”

But the minister failed to offer any comment on the position of other public services under the proposed treaty.

He added that the aim was to conclude the TTIP deal next year, with the fifth negotiating round taking place next month.

In a revealing intervention, Tory backbencher Richard Ottaway oozed enthusiasm for TTIP, likening it to “an economic Nato” which would bind the EU and US more closely together.

Linking it to the Ukraine crisis, Mr Ottaway blustered: “TTIP can become a symbol of Atlantic solidarity which may well check Russian imperialism.”