EDM 202: TTIP

See http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2014-15/202

Having read Early day motion 202 it strikes me as perfectly reasonable to require democratic accountability for TTIP, especially in its dealings with Government bodies. I have therefore no problem with supporting this.

Of course, I am not a Member of Parliament (yet!) and so can only offer vocal support at this point, but I think it important that I do so, and that I broadcast my views so that all may know where I stand on this issue.

The motion reads as follows:

TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP, DEMOCRACY, RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW

That this House notes that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership includes investor-state dispute settlements that are being designed in secret, so enabling multi-national companies to intimidate and sue governments for lost profits due to Government policies designed to protect the public as consumers or workers or to change the level of public ownership, that such settlements will be decided in private by arbitration panels, not in open court, that such actions and arrangements threaten to compromise the UK’s established democracy, human rights and the rule of law and that the shared fruits of trade should not be at the expense of the social and economic justice that democracy demands; and therefore calls on the Government to ensure that all proposed arrangements are fully scrutinised by Parliament and that no arrangements are made which compromise established standards of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

As I write this there are 67 signatories to this EDM. Although mostly supported by Labour MPs, I acknowledge that there are signatories from the Conservative, SDLP, SNP, and Liberal Democrats.