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UK faces ‘decimation of rights’ in Queen’s Speech, warn campaigners

General

A new briefing released today warns that the Great Repeal Bill that will be outlined in the Queen’s Speech could strip away all manner of vital legal protections from areas including human rights, workers’ rights, financial regulation, the environment and consumer protections.

What a democratic trade policy after Brexit would look like

Trade

As the UK looks to start making its own trade policy when it leaves the EU, there is a blank slate. If we do not seek to fill it with trade policy from the perspective of justice and rights, it will be filled by others. Those of us who believe in a more just and equal world for everyone need to start building an alternative vision of trade. One that is both open, international, collaborative and local and democratic.

Trump is ‘running scared’, claim campaigners after his state visit is put on hold

General

This is an incredible victory. By Trump’s own admission, people power has forced him to postpone this state visit which Theresa May should never have offered in the first place.

Pulling out of Paris is the most disastrous of all Trump's decisions to date

Climate and energy

Amidst the series of ill-informed and autocratic policies that Trump has enacted since coming to power, his decision to pull out of the Paris accord stands out as the one that will have the most long-term and disastrous consequences for the world.

Africa subsidises the rest of the world by over $40 billion in one year, according to new research

General

Much more wealth is leaving the world’s most impoverished continent than is entering it, according to new research into total financial flows into and out of Africa.  The study finds that African countries receive $161.6 billion in resources such as loans, remittances and aid each year, but lose $203 billion through factors including tax avoidance, debt payments and resource extraction, creating an annual net financial deficit of over $40 billion.

Court rules that EU cannot ram through Singapore trade deal without member states approval

Trade

This judgment confirms the need for more accountability and democratic control over trade deals. As Global Justice Now has been highlighting, modern trade deals go way beyond what most people think of as trade. They’re not just about selling more ‘stuff’, they are increasingly about our public services, our ability to regulate big business and the way we actually make laws, affecting everything from health to education to jobs.

Commission’s attempt to block citizen’s challenge of toxic trade deals annulled by European Court

Trade

In September 2014 the European Commission formally rejected  a ‘European Citizens' Initiative’ from an alliance of European campaigners against the EU-US and EU-Canada trade deals, known as TTIP and CETA. Yesterday the European Court of Justice ruled that it had been wrong to do so and annulled the commission’s decision.
 

Trading with Trump – What we can expect from a UK-US trade deal

Trade

A new briefing has outlined the likely elements of a UK-US trade deal and argues that it would contain more extreme forms of all the controversial elements of the deal that was being negotiated between the EU and the USA.

These elements include:

Marks And Spencer hide Easter egg video following #StopFundingHate social media campaign

General

Marks and Spencer have hidden their Easter egg promotional video from Facebook after it was bombarded with people posting an image of M&S's flagship Easter egg, Laid Back Lamb, with a #StopFundingHate flag

The government just revealed its plans for the Great Repeal Bill, and it hasn't put anyone's mind at ease

General

The use of Henry VIII powers on this scale should send a chill down the spine of anyone  who genuinely believes in parliamentary sovereignty.
 

We don't have the luxury of lamenting Article 50 - the fight is on for UK democracy

General

We don’t have the luxury of sitting around and lamenting the fact that Theresa May has triggered Article 50, as the fight is now on to prevent the government from granting themselves an unprecedented set of powers to pick and choose which laws suit them and which don’t. Using ‘Henry VIII powers’ could mean ministers making significant changes to important legislation without parliamentary approval – something which many countries would deem unconstitutional.

After Article 50, UK democracy will be ‘chilled’ by Great Repeal Bill, warns new briefing

General
  • Government is planning unprecedented bill to transport thousands of European laws into British law.
  • New briefing from legal academic warns that the bill could affect UK democracy for decades to come and could hand massive power from parliament and the people to the government.
  • Proposed new ‘Henry VIII’ powers have been described by former Lord Chief Justice as a “self-inflicted blow” that should only be used in a national emergency.

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