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Global Justice Now has slammed the ‘model free trade deal’ proposed by a number of radical free market think-tanks today as “entirely divorced from economic reality” and warned that such a deal would “destroy huge swathes of our economy, including farming, and would lay waste to public services.” The model trade deal has been drawn up by the controversial Initiative for Free Trade (IFT) and the US-based Cato Institute, with input from the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) the Adam Smith Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Anti-poverty campaigners have said the UK’s continued funding of a controversial chain of private schools in Africa is a sign of the fundamental flaws in its new approach to international aid. It comes a week after the Prime Minister signalled a major shift in that strategy during a trade delegation to South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, based around greater private sector involvement in UK aid spending.

An amendment by Caroline Lucas MP (NC3) to give parliament control of post-Brexit trade deals was defeated by 30 votes in the House of Commons this afternoon as MPs debated the Trade Bill. Other amendments to give devolved administrations statutory powers over trade were also defeated before the Trade Bill debate moved on to discuss the customs unions

Commenting on Donald Trump's statement that the UK's Brexit plans will 'probably kill' a US-UK trade deal, Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now and steering committee member of the Stop Trump Coalition said:

As MPs finally get to debate CETA, the EU-Canada trade deal, in parliament today, civil society groups warn this toxic trade deal threatens our democracy and public services, calling on MPs to reject it.