Trade deals are in the air post-Brexit, but not everybody is happy. In a speech this week Frances O’Grady, the TUC General Secretary, accused the government of not taking international morality into proper account when closing such deals. She demanded the government take steps to suspend trade deals with a number of countries that, according to recent research by the TUC, had a murky record on labour standards and human rights.
By failing to do this and continuing to deal with these regimes, she said, the UK would be turning its back on workers everywhere and in addition demonstrating that it could not be trusted to observe decent standards at home. By contrast, if it made the signing and observance of any trade deal conditional on the other party’s acceptance of TUC-approved labour and social standards, the UK could then use its leverage to force change on other countries.
The TUC wasn’t the only body to strike a sour note here.
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