Let’s leave aside for a moment the whole issue of democracy, sovereignty and ‘taking back control’ which is covered in this article from Jon Danzig, and instead call out the abject gaslighting and lies being spewed out to defend a lamentable deal that has some real nasties hidden inside it. It’s not for nothing that it’s been described as a ‘Liz Truss brain fart’ and ‘the Bad Friday Agreement’…
What is the CPTPP? The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is a trade agreement among Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and, now, the UK. It evolved from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The government has gone into orgiastic ecstasy about how this is an amazing coup for the UK, citing the trillions of trade done by the bloc as if all the money was coming our way. Spoiler alert: it ain’t.
But no amount of Daz-washes-lies-whiter style advertising can hide the dirty facts:
- Just 0.08 per cent growth over 10 YEARS.
- Sells out farmers/food producers because of lower standards/lack of level playing field.
- We already had free trade agreements(rolled-over from EU days) with all but two members.
- Environment-unfriendly shift of trade to other side of planet – so much for the climate emergency and net zero.
- “Allows secret foreign courts to settle trade disputes”. YES! So much for sovereignty! If a big company wants to claim that a change in our laws – let’s say an increase in the minimum wage (unlikely under the Tories, admittedly) – impacts their business negatively, they can take us to court in another jurisdiction! Sorry? Wasn’t that something that stuck in Brexiters’ craws?
- AND we get no right to live and work anywhere new!
It’s one way traffic, just like the Australia and New Zealand deals.
So why are the Brexiters so cock-a-hoop and so willing to lie to sell their poison pill?
Because they hope it takes us even further away from the nasty EU: the nasty woke, progressive, fraud-hating, social-justice-loving EU which wants to eradicate their tax havens and their exploitative freeport scams. And they HATE anything with the word ‘Europe’ attached to it.
Their toxic ideology has weakened the UK on every front. A weaker economy means less money for the NHS, for schools, for social care, for investment in sustainability and green technologies. Being outside the tent reduces our influence and standing on the world stage. Allying ourselves with countries built on fossil fuels, rare earth and extractive industries with lower employment, food safety and animal welfare standards will not improve your lot or mine. Quite the reverse.
Think of it this way. For every £5 of trade we have trashed through Brexit, we will get back 10p with this oh-so-fabulous deal with countries thousands of miles away. Does that sound like a good deal to you?
So when you see Kemi, or Rishi or Liz crowing about this deal, you can wag your finger at them and say ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire!’ and then vote them OUT at the earliest possible opportunity.
