Local groups concerns about the UK/US trade deal

In October 2020, Faringdon Peaace Group, Extinction Rebellion Swindon and Plastic Free Swindon were among those in Swindon who took part in various actions to support Global Justice Now’s national day of action against the US/UK Trade deal. On the 9th January 2021, the government voted against providing Parliament with a say on upcoming trade deals. Both of Swindon’s MPs supported these anti-democratic measures.

Our main concerns about the US/UK trade deal are:

1. Negotiations have been carried out in secret without parliamentary oversight. Given corporate involvement in negotiations, concerns are that this will lead to lower social and environmental standards. Poor trade deals fuel inequality, climate chaos and war.
2. The talks exclude any discussion of carbon emission reduction targets. With lower US standards, this could prevent the UK from taking appropriate environmental action for the 30 year term of the deal.
3. Lower food and farming standards: For example: Unlabelled chlorine-washed chicken, hormone injected beef, the use of hazardous chemicals not currently permitted, GM crops... The UK currently uses the ‘Precautionary Principle’ which means a substance or practice has to be proven safe before it can be used. The US don’t have that; they view UK standards as barriers to trade.
4. Increasing privatisation of the NHS and higher drug prices, which have already been agreed. The main prize for the US is control of the NHS by US healthcare companies moving us towards an insurance-based system akin to theirs. Underhanded privatisation has been going on for many years, as evidenced in John Pilger’s documentary ‘The Dirty War on the NHS’ (1). It is worth noting that US medicines are on average 4 times more expensive than in the UK (2) and that 9% of people in the US have filed for bankruptcy because of medical bills (3).
5. The terms of the deal are enforced through International Investor State Dispute Settlement courts (ISDS courts). This mechanism allows corporations to sue governments if changes in legislation are deemed to reduce their profits. For example, the UK could be sued for introducing clean air legislation if that reduce a corporation’s profits. Argentina have paid out $80 billion through such corporate courts since 2001 (4).

Further details:

Trade Justice Movement: www.tjm.org.uk

Global Justice Now: https://tradesecrets.globaljustice.org.uk)

Extinction Rebellion Swindon: https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellionSwindon

Plastic Free Swindon [part of Swindon Climate Action Network]: https://plasticfreeswindon.org

Faringdon Peace Group: http://www.faringdonpeacegroup.org.uk

References:

1. http://johnpilger.com/videos/the-dirty-war-on-the-nhs
2. https://tradesecrets.globaljustice.org.uk/ch3
3. http://files.kff.org/attachment/Report-KFF-LA-Times-Survey-of-Adults-with-Employer-Sponsored-Health-Insurance
4. https://tradesecrets.globaljustice.org.uk/ch4