No doubt we will be hearing much more of this in the UK over the next few months, given that EU rules have frequently been used as an excuse in a similar fashion. It&#x27;s one of the arguments in favour of the UK leaving.<p>As I&#x27;ve mentioned elsewhere, I&#x27;m a little surprised that the out campaign hasn&#x27;t made more of TTIP itself as a textbook example of the democratic deficit they complain about. Various people in reply have pointed out that the current UK administration would seem likely to support a similar trade deal with the US directly anyway and in practice it may be other EU states putting the brakes on parts of TTIP, so possibly raising the issue would backfire.