Distillation of the ‘free trade at all costs’ argument from @rcolvile in today’s Times.
There’s so much wrong with this argument in 2020 it’s hard to know where to begin, but let’s have a go...1/
The economic right is obsessed with the historical example of the Corn Laws repeal (1846) as if that proves their every argument.
Trading historical vignettes, what about the near-catastrophic free market approach to food adopted pre-1914 & 1939?
2/
This was predicated on the imperial arrogance that ‘we are a rich nation & others will feed us’ by exploiting their workforce & land, not ours.
This view is back with a vengeance in 2020; financial services are in, farming is out. But you can’t eat money.
3/
In 1914 & 1939 it was war which proved the folly of this mercantilist approach. That threat will always remain (though today our armed forces are tiny).
But add to that climate change, pandemic, trade conflicts & natural disaster. All could disrupt long food chains.
4/
‘Free trade is the best idea in politics because it makes everyone better off’.
Except for those it doesn’t; talk to those communities outside London who were blighted by the experience of the 1980s & have yet to recover, or workers everywhere exploited on subsistence wages.
5/
And from the vantage point of 2020, with the developing climate crisis soon to envelop the globe in unthinkable catastrophe, can we honestly say two centuries of breakneck economic growth at all costs has been sustainable or desirable? That standards don’t matter?
6/
This is ideology which belongs in the dustbin of history. To claim that animal welfare, AMR, clean air, labour standards, biodiversity et al are all protectionist devices imagined by farmers to erect artificial barriers to decimals of GDP growth is to be removed from reality.
7/
Furthermore, to claim that exposure to the chill winds of world trade will help UK Ag is to utterly ignore the world-leading standards we will be held to in law. We stand on the top rung of the food standards ladder; FTAs look to import food which wouldn’t clear the lowest.
8/
We must move away from the expectation we can eat what we want, when we want; we have to look to our own shores for more seasonal, sustainable produce. Shipping avocados from Peru or apples from New Zealand makes no sense on any scale - we must begin to live more sustainably.
9/
The letter from @trussliz and George Eustice on trade & standards was manifestly and intentionally vague and misleading. There’s enough wiggle room to fly a squadron of B-52 sized chlorinated chickens through the loopholes therein. Nobody, but nobody, was fooled.
10/
Just LOL.
🇬🇧 is one of only 3 nations to hold the gold standard for animal welfare - before assurance schemes such as Red Tractor are even included. We have to base our national debate on facts, not fictions.
11/
I hope we can all agree ‘the market’ isn’t infallible; the financial crisis of 2007-8 proved that it needs close monitoring & management to avoid recurring crises.
Furthermore, food isn’t widgets. Even a temporary market failure in food = rioting in the streets.
12/
If you still believe we should go for broke for free trade in food from the cheapest suppliers across the globe, no questions asked, fair enough.
But if you value values & standards in the food on your plate, please sign the @NFUtweets petition ⤵️
13/
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