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Backbenchers united across the Commons yesterday to demand a say over the “corporate wolves” circling the looming TTIP free-trade deal and demand that rules to let firms sue governments be scrapped.
The house rang out to warnings on the shadowy negotiations taking place on the US-EU agreement, including the controversial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) clauses that could usher in a new era of public-sector privatisation.
Labour MP Geraint Davies, who tabled the motion demanding a parliamentary say over the deal, led the charge for answers in the Commons.
He declared: “This issue is about a fundamental balance of power between democracy itself and multinational giants who want to impose their interests on our democratic rights.
“We should pull the teeth of corporate wolves scratching at the door of TTIP by scrapping the ISDS rules altogether.”
As Tory Robert Walter attempted to brush away concerns, Green MP Caroline Lucas retorted: “Countries like the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Poland have been sued 127 times and lost money that could have employed 300,000 nurses for a year.
“The idea that this isn’t a problem is patently wrong — this is about a corporate takeover.”
Tory Zac Goldsmith warned of the dangers of “savage lobbying” by corporations.
“With or without this mechanism TTIP is still structurally geared towards satisfying the interests of multinational corporations above all else.”
Parliament must have the “right to approve or reject before we bind ourselves into it,” he said.