Green Party leader Natalie Bennett branded Lib Dems “the lapdogs of corporate Europe” at the weekend over their support for the transatlantic trade deal.

She warned a free trade deal between the US and European Union would “blow apart the power of our democratic decision making” at her party’s spring conference in Liverpool on Saturday.

The EU Commission labelled the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) “the biggest trade deal in the world” and claimed cutting regulation would boost the EU economy by £120 billion.

But Ms Bennett said: “Let’s make no mistake, the proposed free trade deal is a huge threat to hard-fought-for standards for the quality and safety of our food, the sources of our energy, workers’ rights and our privacy.

“The deal provides corporations with new rights to sue the government for legislating in the public interest — that’s definitely not acting for the common good.”

And she scolded Deputy PM Nick Clegg’s party for framing the deal “as some kind of economic saviour.

“The Lib Dems are the lapdogs of corporate Europe, while the Tories are its war horses,” she said.

“In their support for the trade deal, the Lib Dems are reiterating the propaganda of multinational companies interested only in swallowing up new markets, consuming new societies whole.”

The Australian-born Green Party leader also raised fears over the secrecy of the negotiations with the US in the wake of spying revelations exposed by Edward Snowden.