Rachel Reeves announced that a trade deal with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) – in other words, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states – was imminent last week. It was then leaked that, even though the deal was with unashamed petrostates with no time for net zero and, in some cases, a distinctly doubtful record on rights, the text imposed no legal duties in respect of human rights, modern slavery or the environment.
The trade unions and human rights groups are unhappy. The TUC wants any deal to be conditional on workers’ rights protection; the Trade Justice Movement and other earnest humanitarian activists are demanding binding commitments on human rights and pollution. So far, the government has stood its ground. In the Lords, Baroness Jones said bluntly that whatever our concerns might be about the GCC states’ record on liberty, human rights or the environment, trade talks were not the right place to raise them.
Trade deals should take account of our national interests and not much else
We must give credit where credit is due.
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