Say no to a US-UK trade deal that will impact Scotland

The first round of formal negotiations of the US-UK trade deal have taken place, with more than 200 officials diving straight into talks on all the chapters of a future deal.

This trade deal will have a wide impact here in Scotland. It could impact on environmental protection, food safety, animal welfare, medicine pricing, human rights, tax and procurement.

It’s vital that members of the Scottish parliament understand the risks of a US-UK trade deal, and find ways to show their concern and their opposition. By signing a motion recently tabled in the Scottish parliament by Claudia Beamish MSP they can do that.

Please take a minute now to email your constituency and regional MSPs to bring the motion to their attention and to ask them to sign it. If you have a minute more to adapt the text of the email or the subject line, to make your email a little bit more personal, then please do.

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The wording of Motion S5M-21698: UK-US Trade Deal reads:

“That the Parliament understands that, while most of the world is focused on stopping the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government published the negotiating objectives for a UK-US trade deal in March 2020 and talks between the two governments have begun; considers that the deal could threaten the Scottish Parliament’s devolved powers and its ability to develop different laws and policies to the rest of the UK in areas such as environmental protection, food safety, animal welfare, medicine pricing, human rights, tax and procurement; notes with concern what it sees as the threat to the NHS in Scotland and Scottish Water, both of which remain less privatised than in the rest of the UK, and considers that all public services should be excluded from international trade deals; understands that the negotiating objectives do not include a clear position on investor-state dispute settlement or any similar investor protection clause in a trade deal with the US, and that any such clause could have a "regulatory chilling" effect on any future laws for the protection of people and the environment that the Scottish Parliament might consider, and urges the UK Government to ensure there is a transparent and accountable process for negotiating future trade deals, that the Scottish Government is properly involved in any negotiations that will impact on devolved powers and devolved laws, and that the Scottish Parliament is also able to scrutinise any deal and its impact on Scotland.”