TTIP (The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership)

[sidthelamp]

Quote from the BBC News website about the findings of the Business Select Committee at the Westminster Parliament:

''Trade talks between the US and European Union have been marked by "dog whistle" politics, a group of MPs has warned.

The Business Select Committee said debate over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) had been over-simplified and misrepresented.''

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32045398

For anybody who does not understand what the term 'dog whistle politics' means, Wikipedia gives a good explanation:

''Dog-whistle politics is political messaging employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup. The phrase is used only as a pejorative, because of the inherently deceptive nature of the practice……. The analogy is to a dog whistle, whose high-frequency whistle is heard by dogs, but is inaudible to humans.''

Hopefully this is an example of a Parliamentary Working Committee doing its job competently and holding the Government to account for its actions.

its not a term ive heard before, id of called it deception , this is just a classic case of not telling the people anything about some thing that will effect every ones lives in the uk

[olivia8143]

I wrote to my (Tory) MP asking him to oppose the TTIP and he replied back accusing 38 degrees of scaremongering. Here's a copy of the correspondence:

Dear Rt Hon Stephen Crabb,
As a candidate in my local constituency, I would like you to oppose the TTIP trade deal.
II know it's unusual for you not to toe the party line but I’m really worried about the effect of TTIP (The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Patnership) on further privatisation of our NHS and public services, as well as the inclusion of an ISDS clause which could allow corporations to sue governments. A document leaked last week showed that the NHS still isn’t exempt from the deal. You can read more about it here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/ttip-leaked
Please can you tell me what you will do to stop this deal and protect our public services?

[olivia8143]

cont. from previous post

and his reply was:

Thank you for your email via 38 Degrees about the Transatlantic Trade Partnership between the EU and the USA.

I understand that 38 Degrees have run a campaign criticising TTIP. However, I believe that there has been a significant amount of scaremongering and misinformation around the issue, including the suggestion that it could undermine the NHS. This is simply not correct.

Regarding the specific document that your email mentions, its wording states that, ‘The EU reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure with regard to the provision of all health services which receive public funding or State support in any form’. This means that the EU reserves the right to make decisions about health policy, and they have already stated clearly that the NHS will be exempt.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, wrote last year that ‘There is no reason to fear either for the NHS as it stands today, or for changes to the NHS in future, as a result of TTIP’.

The US chief negotiator has also said that ‘We heard the concern that our negotiations should not require privatization of public services. So we welcome the opportunity to confirm that the United States does not include such provisions in its trade agreement and will not do so in this negotiation.’ It would be a very serious matter indeed if these statements were disingenuous or ill-informed.

It is also worth noting that this wording is exactly the same as that used in a similar free trade deal between the EU and Canada, which is already in place and has had no impact on the NHS. The UK already has over 90 bilateral trade agreements with other countries which have not affected the NHS.

(notice he didn't reply to my concern the inclusion of an ISDS clause which could allow corporations to sue governments)

Of course, I shall be writing to him again

[sidthelamp]

cont. from previous post

and his reply was:

Thank you for your email via 38 Degrees about the Transatlantic Trade Partnership between the EU and the USA.

I understand that 38 Degrees have run a campaign criticising TTIP. However, I believe that there has been a significant amount of scaremongering and misinformation around the issue, including the suggestion that it could undermine the NHS. This is simply not correct.

Regarding the specific document that your email mentions, its wording states that, ‘The EU reserves the right to adopt or maintain any measure with regard to the provision of all health services which receive public funding or State support in any form’. This means that the EU reserves the right to make decisions about health policy, and they have already stated clearly that the NHS will be exempt.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Ignacio Garcia Bercero, wrote last year that ‘There is no reason to fear either for the NHS as it stands today, or for changes to the NHS in future, as a result of TTIP’.

The US chief negotiator has also said that ‘We heard the concern that our negotiations should not require privatization of public services. So we welcome the opportunity to confirm that the United States does not include such provisions in its trade agreement and will not do so in this negotiation.’ It would be a very serious matter indeed if these statements were disingenuous or ill-informed.

It is also worth noting that this wording is exactly the same as that used in a similar free trade deal between the EU and Canada, which is already in place and has had no impact on the NHS. The UK already has over 90 bilateral trade agreements with other countries which have not affected the NHS.

(notice he didn't reply to my concern the inclusion of an ISDS clause which could allow corporations to sue governments)

Of course, I shall be writing to him again

id also ask him on what constitutional grounds we the uk as the people , have endorsed this ttip agreement, have we voted for this agreement , ithink his answer would be obvious but would show just how undemocratic the eu is,

[westlondoncarparts]

Dear Olivia,

Had there been open and transparent disclosure of facts and open engagement with the UK electorate, there would be no need for people like you to write to their MPs.

In 1973 Edward Heath’s Government took us into what was then the European Economic Community, of which a key aspect was the development of a free trade zone within the member countries. However, the EEC was about much more than a free trade zone and included a the European Council of Ministers, European Parliament, the European Commission, European Social Fund, etc.. In 1975 we ended up having a referendum about all the stuff additional to the trade zone so that the people could have their say on something that would change the UK’s sovereignty forever. It looks as if there are shades of this being repeated all over again with TTIP.

It is important that people who have genuine concerns about this, and any other unrelated important matters, keep up their lobbying activity.

Even when it seems not realistic to hope, it is important to remember that effort pays off. We had the Hillsborough Inquest the other week – see how long it took for the truth to come out over that and all down to people not giving up on the struggle for truth. And also, we now have legislation on the Statute Book in the UK requiring the referendum approval of the British electorate before there can be any significant change in the UK’s relationship with the EU and this was due to lobbying effort. Again due to lobbying, the Scottish Government is not going to allow fracking in Scotland until there has been full consultation with the Scottish electorate and not until there is better understanding of the side effects of fracking, despite the Westminster Parliament going the other way.

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Mor...king-1555.aspx

We have a General Election within weeks. I think it important that we all consider very careful who we are going to vote for, especially with some of the behaviour we have seen from leading politicians over the last week or two. Just a personal view but it feels to me as if a lot of the top people in the main parties are totally disconnected from the ordinary person in the street and are only interested in power stakes for their parties, in which case how will they ever provide us with meaningful Government?

[sidthelamp]

another parliament cross committee criticise the bbc for its reporting on the EU
http://rt.com/uk/243965-mps-lack-eu-debate/