Governments must stop secret negotiations of international trade agreements and realise that public services are not saleable commodities.

Ever heard of TiSA? You probably haven’t — the Trade in Services Agreement, which would lead to weaker regulation in sectors including banking, is currently being negotiated in secret by representatives of governments from around the world. The text of the treaty is classified until five years after its provisions come into force, preventing the ordinary citizens who would be affected by the treaty even from knowing what it contains, let alone opposing it.

A financial services annex to the treaty which was leaked by WikiLeaks shows that 23 countries including Canada and the US, as well as the 28 EU member states, including the UK, are involved in these negotiations. The trade agreement could have devastating effects on governments’ ability to regulate to protect their citizens and their public services. It will lead to deregulation in sectors including financial services and public services, which will result in weaker legislation protecting citizens from another financial crash and economic crisis, along with large-scale privatisation of essential public services.

TiSA would not only make it easier for profit-hungry corporations to grab public services, it would also prevent them being re-nationalised. The treaty would “lock in” any privatisations which take place, meaning that essential services such as health, utilities, transport and education could not in future be returned to the public sector and run for the common good, rather than for private profit. It could also have a damaging effect on labour rights, removing hard-won protections for the most vulnerable groups such as migrant workers. It will also weaken governments’ ability to legislate to protect the environment and public health.

This agreement is yet another example of governments’ rush to throw our essential public services into the hands of greedy, unscrupulous multinational conglomerates whose only concern is profit at any cost. Our public services should remain in public hands, accountable to the citizens they serve and whose taxes they are funded by. Services such as education and health simply are not profit-making commodities, and should not be treated as such. Some things, such as the health of our citizens, are too vital to be left in the hands of companies which care only for their profit margins.

We have seen, again and again, that when services are privatised the quality goes down and the price goes up. This is because, instead of simply trying to provide a good service at a reasonable price, services which have been privatised then start diverting public funds into providing shareholder profits and fat payment packages to chief executives. I do not believe that this is a good use of public money. If the UK Government is so sure that TiSA is a good idea, why are the terms of the treaty not open to proper democratic scrutiny? Why are those carrying out the negotiations refusing to listen to the voices of ordinary people?

The UK still has not recovered from the banking crash and recession, which were caused in large part by a lack of regulation to prevent banks taking unacceptable risks. The consequences of this were devastating, as the loss of global financial stability had the most severe impact on those who were already poorest and most vulnerable. Why on earth is the Government involved in negotiations to weaken regulations, making another devastating crash more likely? Why is the Government yet again prioritising the greed of multinational banks and corporations over the needs of the citizens who they were elected to represent?

I am inherently suspicious of any international agreement which is negotiated in secret, without the knowledge of Parliament or the public. It is intrinsically un-democratic for Governments to hide what they are doing from their own citizens, and from the Parliaments which are supposed to represent the rights of those citizens. Why is the UK Government pushing for the “right” of corporations to make a killing by taking over public services, and the ‘right’ of the financial services sector to engage in ever-riskier gambling which destabilises the global economy?”

I call on the UK Government to release the full negotiating texts of the Trade in Services Agreement, so that the voices of UK citizens can be heard.