Alan Langmaid, of Hilldown, Totnes, writes:

Commentators imply that the Brexit cause has been damaged by US President Obama’s ­outrageous campaigning. I wondered why he would risk diplomatic disaster at the grass-roots level in Britain just to ­support his preference. It’s a risky strategy unless the stakes are high. And they are.

He threatens that Britain may have to wait five or 10 years before achieving a free trade agreement if we leave. The UK has never had an FTA with the US, so why does five or 10 years mean so much since there is no current FTA between the EU and US?

But there will be very soon. Not the nice, friendly sort, like a tariff-free trading agreement, but a transatlantic trade and investment partnership, which is being negotiated right now – probably one of the reasons why Mr Obama has been in the EU recently.

There is a corporate ­protection mechanism within the TTIP called an investor-to-state dispute settlement. An ISDS is a legal right that only those who invest in a foreign country can use one to ­challenge a law, judicial or administrative ruling, or any other government decision. Investors are those who buy property, whether it is land, a factory or stocks and bonds.

An ISDS allows the foreign property owner to avoid domestic courts or administrative procedures in order to sue the host country’s government before a panel of unelected arbitrators who are not subject to conflict of interest rules. This system of corporate courts can challenge anything from ­cigarette packaging to denials of permits for toxic waste dumps to increases in the minimum wage.

Any law that is not in the investor’s interest can be ­challenged. All it takes is for a reason why the government decision violates its right to fair and equitable treatment or why it might reduce its expected profits. An ISDS cannot get a law or rule overturned, but the punitive fines and costs are often enough to get them reversed.

Now I know why Mr Obama – and now Hilary Clinton – are so exercised about the UK staying in the EU. If we leave the biggest prize of all will slip from their fingers. Our NHS! To put this in perspective, there was a time when the NHS

was the world’s third-largest employer, behind the Chinese army and the Indian railway. It is still very high on the global employment list – around fifth I think – so the dollar stakes are enormous.

This is why American ­politicians court the wrath of our people. Our people don’t count. Large corporations do. The best way to sell something to someone is to tell them they can’t have it yet unless certain demands are met. Like staying in the EU.

I risk sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but the basis for my concern includes the War on Want TTIP website and the admirable 38 Degrees online campaigning organisation ­alerting us to the dangers of this innocent-sounding threat.

Right now Leave.EU is ­campaigning to get democracy restored to our citizens and away from unelected EU civil servants and foreign politicians. With TTIP, the focus of power migrates from bureaucrats to corporate boardrooms, making democracy even more remote.

I regret I am using the Stay Campaign’s tactics of fear. But on this subject, be afraid. Be very afraid. Want to stay in the EU? Beware of what you wish for.