UK Parliamentary Debate on TTIP
Categories: Articles:Trade Justice (Fair Trade) |
Published: 19/01/2015 |
Views: 1220
This should give us encouragement to keep campaigning!
Sheila Gilmore (Edinburgh East) (Lab): Had it not been for a great deal of campaigning, I suspect that we would not have been able to debate either TTIP or many other things. The hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith) suggested that there has been plenty of parliamentary debate of this issue. There has been some debate, and perhaps the amount is increasing, but it is largely because people have raised the issue and kept campaigning on it that we have got to this stage.
The Government have not initiated the debate or said what they are trying to achieve, and it seems that Ministers at times answer questions only grudgingly.
When TTIP was first raised with me a considerable time ago—a year ago, if not more—by members of a constituency peace and justice group that is involved in international development issues, I confess that I had not heard about it. I did not know what they were talking about, and I had to research and find out about it; it was not on our agenda in this place. We must give credit to such people, even if we sometimes think that they get particularly exercised about such issues. I am firmly convinced that we would not be having this debate had it not been for them.
You can read a transcript of the debate here:
Find out more about
TTIP from the Trade Justice Movement
Find out more about
TTIP from Global Justice Now (new name fro the World Development Movement)
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