Trade deals behind closed doors are a threat to our democracy

We’re used to hearing Big Brother conspiracy theories from the Trotskyite with the staring eyes in the corner of the pub. But when people like the doyenne of Irish cooking, Darina Allen, are talking about “a threat to democracy” it’s time to sit up, says Victoria White.

The EU

A series of trade agreements which the EU has negotiated in secret have the power, if passed, to start by destroying our food standards and our farming sector, and go on to destroy our hopes of containing global greenhouse gas emissions.

They will make of Europe and North America one vast single market constituting half of the world’s GDP with one set of standards set, more and more, by large corporations. They will force developing countries to play to lose by rules which they cannot influence.