Skip to content
- CANZUK
- Future Trade negotiations with any country shouldn’t compromise environmental protection, animal welfare or food standards.
- Promote mutual recognition of regulation between countries within free trade agreements instead of regulatory harmonisation, to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade quickly and inexpensively.
- Work with international bodies for better regulation and scrutiny of international trade and investment treaties to ensure they do not worsen inequalities or undermine human rights or developing countries’ ability to regulate the environmental and social impacts of businesses.
- Extension of full parliamentary sovereignty to trade agreements, such that the old so-called Ponsonby Rule on scrutiny and the later CraG process in both Houses, end in a parliamentary vote, without which any trade agreement cannot receive Royal Assent.
- Full and timely transparency in both interim and final trade deals which have been agreed, including timely publication of any side agreements or significant MoUs, so that there can be proper parliamentary scrutiny.
- Transparent public consultation on proposed trade deals, throughout the process, including with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, and including reports to Parliament at each stage.
- A set of minimum standards for benchmarking future trade agreements; to include human rights, conflict and oppression, environmental, labour and safety standards, where they can be negotiated, based on a UK Trade and Human Rights Policy, and a Trade and Development Policy; as a UK successor to the Cotonou agreement.
- A multilateral judicial process instead of ISDS, where precedent and case law transparently play a central part, and where disputes are resolved openly in a proper manner; rather than via the government’s preferred secretive ‘smoke filled room’ approach.
- The strengthening of the role of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, to allow it to review the impact of international trade deals before Parliament approves it.
