Scottish constituents opposing TTIP visit House of Commons to lobby MPs

Date: 13 October 2015

A group of concerned Scottish citizens from constituencies across Scotland will next week travel to Westminster to put pressure on Scottish MPs to oppose controversial trade deals between Europe, the US and Canada (TTIP and CETA). 

On Tuesday, 20 October, the group of sixteen Scots of varying ages and backgrounds, will be meeting with SNP spokesperson on TTIP, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh MP, as well as SNP Europe spokesperson Stephen Gethins MP, and their own constituency MPs.  They will be letting the MPs know of their specific concerns about TTIP and CETA, and the impact that the trade deals could have on Scotland.
 
Their concerns include the lack of transparency surrounding the negotiations, the amount of power that the deals will hand to corporations, the threat to legislation to protect the environment and the threat to public services like the NHS and Scottish Water.

Liz Thomas, retired CEO of a charity from Glasgow said:
“I have many concerns about TTIP (and other similar trade deals) but for me the main issue is the potential damage to our democracy. Over the last thirty years we have seen the powers of the large multi-national corporations ever increasing to the detriment of the environment and reducing the opportunities we have to make real choices about our lifestyles and the goods and services we buy or want to pay for. TTIP is about giving large companies even more power so must in my opinion be stopped.”

Dave Kennedy, software engineer from Edinburgh said:
“I want to see a ban on fracking, which endangers our environment. TTIP would enable corporations to sue the government for a policy like that. I’m going to Westminster to argue that TTIP is undemocratic and should be rejected entirely”

Liz Murray, head of Scottish campaigns for Global Justice Now said:
“Opposition to TTIP, and other similar trade deals, is growing fast on both sides of the Atlantic.  Only last week a Europe-wide petition, calling for a halt to TTIP and CETA, reached a record-breaking 3.2 million signatures having only been launched a year ago.  The Scottish constituents who are visiting Westminster are part of this mass movement of concerned citizens calling on politicians to reject TTIP. It’s vital that their MPs listen to them. ”