A PROTEST has been carried out in York against the privatisation of the NHS.

Gardens at nine streets around the city saw specially-made signs put up, advertising a spoof Cameron & Hunt estate agency, in a move to highlight NHS reforms and to lobby Prime Minister David Cameron and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Rows of houses in Rawcliffe and Skelton put up the signs, which called for the Government to stop a trade deal by the EU - the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, which would grant more freedom for private companies to take on healthcare work.

Alf Tinsley, from Skelton, said: "The people of Skelton are demanding David Cameron uses his veto to get the NHS out of TTIP.

"They are appalled that our NHS could be irreversibly sold-off to US corporations. Hundreds of households are sending a clear message by raising 'stop the sale' signs."

The local protest was set up by Defend Our NHS York, but also saw action in homes around England, Scotland and Wales, and urged MP for York Outer Julian Sturdy to present their concerns to Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr Sturdy said he was surprised by the campaign, and he would never so anything that would compromise a free NHS service, on a national or local level.

He said: "I believe passionately in our NHS both locally and nationally, and would never do anything that would compromise its founding principles of being free at the point of delivery and based on clinical need.

"It is a nonsense that we are selling-off the NHS, and I believe it is wrong to scaremonger about such an important issue just before Christmas. I want to make it very clear that there is no requirement in TTIP for the Government, or future Governments, to open NHS healthcare services to further competition and private sector provision."

Mr Sturdy said the Government and the European Commission will not allow American healthcare companies to run NHS services, which would be exempt from TTIP negotiations.

He said: "If that was not the case I would make my opposition crystal clear.

"My family and I continue to rely on the NHS in York alongside the vast majority of my constituents and I do not want to see it used as a political football as we approach the next general election, which I am sorry to say feels like the real intention behind this campaign."