Imagine a headline that said US corporation to sue UK Government for loss of earnings due to local populations preventing fracking in their area… and UK politicians gave them the right to do so! Is this treason?

I can hear you, “Don’t be stupid Jon, our politicians wouldn’t do that, you’re a fool!”

I got this email yesterday, thought you might like to read it…

Dear Jonathan,

Do you want to live in a world in which multinational corporations can sue the UK government for raising the minimum wage? [1] Or how about a world where big tobacco companies can sue the UK for billions of pounds for introducing a plain cigarette packaging law? [2]

Scarily, this could happen if TTIP – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – is passed. It’s basically a Christmas wish-list for big businesses – one with no benefit to ordinary people. Right now, the negotiations are going on behind closed doors. But the devastating consequences will affect us all. We have an opportunity – but only for the next 48 hours – to stop one of the worst parts of the deal.

Thanks to massive people-powered campaigns across Europe, the TTIP negotiating team opened a consultation on the Investor-To-State Dispute Settlement – ISDS. It’s a complex name that covers up a nasty rule that’ll let corporations sue our government for putting their duty to ordinary people before businesses’ profits. [3]

Together, we need to do all we can to get ISDS dropped from the deal – but the consultation closes in just 48 hours time.This is the first time ordinary people like us will have a chance to have a say on any part of TTIP. Let’s make sure the negotiating team gets the message loud and clear – we don’t want big businesses to dictate laws to our government.

We only have two days left. So far the negotiating team has only heard from shady lobbyists. We need to tell them why this deal is terrible for ordinary people. The consultation doesn’t accept identical entries so we each need to write our own.But you don’t need to be an expert. And there are tips to help you on the web page. Just click the link below to write in:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/EU-TTIP-Consultation

We know that when thousands of us feed into consultations, we’re too powerful to ignore. Just last week, the UK government went back on its plans to privatise child protection services after 70,000 38 Degrees members fed into their consultation. [4] When we take part in consultations like this, we create waves.

The TTIP team is vulnerable right now. Just this month the US embassy in Berlin offered grants of $20,000 for campaigns in support of TTIP! [5] So this is a perfect time to show them how united we are in our opposition. And we’ll be in good company – we’ll be joining hundreds of thousands of voices across Europe who have already spoken out against the deal.

The consultation closes in just two days. It won’t take long to write into it. Please click here to email the TTIP team now.
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/EU-TTIP-Consultation

Thanks for being involved,

Bryony, Megan, Blanche, James & the 38 Degrees team