Trade Justice Movement

"I visited Ghana recently, as part of my work on the International Development Select

Committee. I saw the impact of unfair trade rules at first hand, visiting cocoa farmers whose income was at the mercy of volatile world cocoa markets. Rich countries’ high tariffs on the import of processed chocolate, as opposed to raw cocoa, are a huge and unfair obstacle to development and prosperity in Ghana.

I look forward to meeting what I hope will be a large number of Leeds West campaigners at the Trade Justice Movement's mass lobby of Parliament on 19 June. The Jubilee 2000 campaign showed how much can be achieved through peaceful lobbying backed up with practical ideas, good research and close international links - I was a patron of the very active Jubilee 2000 campaign here in Leeds - and I hope that this campaign can build on that one to achieve real justice for the world's poor."

I am delighted to be the primary sponsor of the Trade Justice Early Day Motion.

The full text is "That this House welcomes the repeated commitments made by Her Majesty's Government to make trade rules fairer and to reform the World Trade Organisation; notes too the increasing public concern about the impact of current international trade rules on poor communities, the environment and democracy and the extension of trade rules in negotiations launched in Doha last November; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to use the opportunities presented by this month's EU Heads of Government Meeting and G8 Summit, the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, and the WTO negotiations to take a lead in reforming international trade rules that place as their highest priorities the fight against global poverty and the promotion of sustainable development."