Emily Thornberry, a Labour lawmaker and the shadow trade secretary, on Tuesday called for support to the cross-party amendments to the trade bill that is about to be discussed by the lower house, arguing that the legislation will allow parliament to have a say on future trade agreements
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th January, 2021) Emily Thornberry, a Labour lawmaker and the shadow trade secretary, on Tuesday called for support to the cross-party amendments to the trade bill that is about to be discussed by the lower house, arguing that the legislation will allow parliament to have a say on future trade agreements.
The amendments to the bill, which will be considered by the House of Commons later on Tuesday, would force the government to assess the human rights records of countries before negotiating trade deals with them and would require the UK's withdrawal from agreements with those held responsible for genocide.
"The point of the amendment we're putting in here is to give parliament an opportunity to debate, consider and vote on trade agreements. We don't have that at the moment and this legislation is there to put down the infrastructure for all trade agreements in the future," Thornberry told the Sky news broadcaster.
According to the Labour lawmaker, the current Conservative government does not seem to take into account the human rights records of the countries with which it is signing trade deals. Thornberry cited the example of Egypt.
"It's perfectly clear, in my view, that the government has not even considered the human rights record of a country that has one of the worst human rights records in the world," Thornberry added.
Asked about the trade deal the UK is negotiating with the United States, a country that executes its own citizens, the lawmaker said that there are "a number of constraints" that prevent the UK from deporting people to the US if it looks that they may be subject to the death penalty.
"That is something that we've always been completely clear with the Americans about," she said.
Ahead of the vote on the amendments introduced by the House of Lords, the Labour Party has asked lawmakers to vote with their consciousness.
After leaving the European Union as part of the Brexit process, the UK embarked on negotiating free trade agreements with countries around the world.
