Anti-poverty charity War on Want hit out at “dishonest” Trade Minister Lord Livingston yesterday after he labelled criticism of a dodgy trade deal “completely misleading.”

In a swaggering appearance before MPs on Wednesday the Tory belittled opponents of the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) as “well-informed but ill-minded.”

And he attacked the “trade justice movement” for its staunch criticism of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses that will hand US corporations unprecedented powers to sue the government for lost profits.

Campaigners warn that reversing privatisations including the current NHS sell-off could become near impossible as a result, with War on Want detailing 500 examples globally where public policy had been challenged under similar rules.

Yet the peer casually claimed the mechanism would be activated only if a country nationalised but did not compensate firms fairly.

“A lot of people have been unnerved by some of the statements of apparent fact made that are completely misleading,” he moaned to the business, innovation and skills select committee.

But War on Want director John Hilary hit back yesterday.

“Livingston is being dishonest if he suggests that this is just scaremongering or that the powers will only apply to uncompensated nationalisation,” he said.

“There is no scaremongering needed to stimulate public outrage at the introduction of these new powers.

“The government itself commissioned a study from the LSE which warned them to drop ISDS from TTIP or else to be prepared for the UK to face massive corporate challenges.”