A demonstration will take place on the streets of Waltham Forest this weekend in protest of a 'secretive' U.S. trades deal.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a series of trade negotiations being carried out mostly in secret between the EU and US.

As a bi-lateral trade agreement, TTIP is about reducing the bureaucratic trade barriers of big business, and opening up European markets.

As part of the agreement, transnational corporations could sue sovereign nations if their policies cause a loss of profits.

There are fears by pro-democracy campaigners that public services, such as NHS trusts, could become privatised under the deal.

The day of action in Walthamstow is part of a nationwide effort by independent campaign group, 38 Degrees.

From 11am, volunteers will be calling on residents, shoppers and commuters to sign the anti-TTIP petition outside Walthamstow Central and Wood St station.

Already, the Europe-wide 38 Degrees petition has secured 2,464,673 signatures but needs an additional 35,000 to meet the 2.5m mark by October.

Nick Hocking, a 38 Degrees member from Walthamstow, said: "The groups arranging this deal don't want us to know about it.

"Politicians aren't talking about it, although Jeremy Corbyn is a notable exception, and the media is silent, but if it goes through it will have terrible impact on our lives.

"It is likely to water down environmental protections at a time when air quality levels in London are already linked to 1 in 12 deaths.

"It also opens the door to lower food safety standards, so we could be seeing the return of bee-killing pesticides on our fields and chlorine-washed chicken in our supermarkets."

38 Degrees campaigner, Amy Lockwood, added: "Saturday’s day of action is all about the people of Walthamstow sending a message to corporate lobbyists - we won’t sit back while you re-write the rules of democracy."

Labour leader frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn recently described TTIP in the House of Commons as a "race to the bottom" that will result in the "worst standards being the norm on both sides of the Atlantic".