MPS urged to press for trade deal scrutiny

» MOST of us would or will welcome a trade deal with the European Union if it does not impose unreasonable conditions on Britain.

The same cannot be said for a deal with the United States, even under President Biden. US food and environmental standards are inferior compared with those that apply in Britain and the EU.

The US agricultural system is based on the use of chemicals and of animal farming on an industrial scale. British farmers are nervous that a trade deal could allow US producers to undercut them with cheaper low-quality food.

The movement of goods around the world is associated with the burning of fossil fuels, destruction of rainforests, pollution of the oceans and unsustainable air transport.

Other things are wrong with trade deals. Often they are as much about regulation as they are about reducing tariffs. Clauses allow multilateral companies to sue governments for loss of profits and to ride roughshod over environmental safeguards.

The Trade Bill that has been going through Parliament is designed to ease our exit from the EU and to negotiate our own deals. But it would let the Government push through trade deals with little chance for discussion.

The US trade talks are well underway but we do not know what concessions the Government has made already.

Ironically, it is our unelected House of Lords that has tried to put a brake on this steamrollering. It has recently approved two amendments to the Bill, one that requires a parliamentary debate before a deal can be agreed, and the other that aims to protect the NHS from control outside the UK.

Two campaigning organisations, Global Justice Now and We Own It, are asking people to lobby their MP to support the amendments when the Bill is reconsidered by the House of Commons in 2021.

The six Gloucestershire MPS are Conservative, so we will not be holding our breath.