Last week I went to a local 38
Degrees meeting. The meeting was an open discussion of local activist concerns
to be fed into a national view. The idea was to talk about how to make the world a better place. I went armed with my familiar prejudices, climate change and taxation. However what happened was much more interesting.
Someone spoke about plans to
build 400 houses on grade 1 agricultural land belonging to the local lord of
the manor. All those brown field site going spare and the countryside is under
threat. The local council really couldn’t care and is very dismissive of local
voters concerns. Local democracy is irrelevant when you have government targets,
pressure from developers and profits for the local gentry at stake.
Another person spoke about the
NHS being privatised. Not simply from a distant point of view but from someone
who belongs to a group that tries to be represented at every monthly meeting of
the local CCG. Someone who knows what they are talking about. They say getting
involved with the CCG is very educational. Lots of services are being set up
for privatisation and we are unaware of it. NHS budgets are being cut irrespective of the
official government line.
The most interesting topic was
TTIP and again an ordinary concerned citizen stood up and spoke about what this
trade negotiation between the EEC and the United states means to us all. By
coincidence this was to be followed up this week when I was in the audience of
around 80 people to hear John Hilary, director of War on Want, lead a discussion on
TTIP.
TTIP starts from a fairly logical
business point of view. Barriers to trade exist not in the form of import taxes
but as rules and regulations which inhibit competition. So the logical answer
is to say that legislation in one country should be accepted by other countries.
However this reasonable sounding start has teeth.
TTIP includes legislation to offer
recompense if a market is not open. It works like this, A business which feels
it is unfairly excluded from a market it serves can present its case to a
closed court to be judged by business lawyers with no public accountability.
Governments can be forced to pay millions in compensation for future profits
lost. Such courts exist at the moment within Europe and between the USA and
other countries such as Australia. The experience is not good. In Australia big
tobacco is taking the government to court over plain packaging not simply for
the impact on the current market but for loss of future profits given the tobacco
companies plans to expand. Germany is being taken to court by a Swedish company
because Germany decided to run down and close its nuclear power stations
damaging the Swedish companies plans to expand their business. The Swedish company
want €250 million for future profits lost.
Imagine what this means for the
National Health Service. We can stop this but do you think our politicians
care. So many of our MP’s have business
interests in private health care, including consultancies and directorships for
American health businesses. The EEC negotiators state that this is not going to
threaten public services and that the protestors are being naive. But be
honest, US health companies have wanted a piece of the NHS for years now and
TTIP gives them the teeth to exploit the changes introduced to the NHS by this
coalition government.
As ever images speak louder than
words and John Hilary spoke about American industrial farms where 15,000 cattle are
held in cages within sheds and fed on grain. Due to the conditions and
unsuitable diet they have to receive large amounts of antibiotics. They are
also fed growth hormones which are carcinogenic. All of this is illegal in
Britain. But TTIP is about doing away with barriers to trade. We simply will not
be able to stop American exports of beef.
TTIP will see the steady
dismantling of our environmental and health protection in a race to the bottom.
We can stop TTIP now. But all the major parties want it, although Labour are a bit wobbly so they can be influenced. We need to make
your voice known. First check the facts on the internet, don’t just take my
word for it. Second write to your MEP and make your voice known.
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