Pledges: Fair Trade
#10 in my Pledges series
Another single-topic pledge.
The Email:
Dear Karl Drinkwater,
As I’m sure you’ll know, people in Dwyfor Meirionnydd care about fairness. And they don’t just care about fairness in our area.
If elected, will you commit to working with local Fairtrade supporters like me, and to working in Parliament with organisations like the Fairtrade Foundation, to make sure our country does its bit to ensure the future is fair for people and planet?
You can make this commitment, and connect with the Fairtrade Foundation team, by filling in this form: https://bit.ly/FairtradePledge2024
I’m a big supporter of Fairtrade because Fairtrade is a tool over 2 million farmers and workers across the world can use to drive positive change in their community.
As our next MP, you would also have a great opportunity to ensure even more farmers have the tools to improve their communities and overturn a trade system that is failing to deliver for people and planet.
Future MPs will be able to do this by urging the government – whichever party or parties make that up - to:
1: Make sure trade policy works for people and planet – supporting businesses and policies to enhance environmental and social sustainability
2: Introduce effective legislation that makes sure companies take responsibility for human rights and environmental violations in supply chains
3: Strengthen UK aid to ensure the needs and priorities of smallholder farmers are met
You can read more in the Fairtrade Manifesto, which you can read here: https://bit.ly/FairtradeManifesto
My Thoughts
I totally support Fair trade. It is a hugely important movement that transforms lives. The people producing the basics should be fairly recompensed, not given a pittance so the major profits can be made by Western manufacturers who use the basic ingredients. You can probably guess, we only buy Fairtrade in our house (as well as all the other things we try to do with our purchases such as local, organic/veganic, minimal or no packaging, avoiding palm oil – Ethical Consumer helps us a lot here, as I wrote about recently).
Fair trade, human rights, the environments, aid: they are embedded in many Green Party beliefs too. There is a bit about our aid commitments in the brief manifesto here and on food in general here, but there is more detail in the relevant sections of the full manifesto which you can download.
But I am also sure I am not the only Green who supports the fair trade movements and related goals (including Transition Towns, degrowth, and international cooperation over conflict). We're basically the party for social justice, and our concerns go beyond the UK and to the whole planet and everyone (and every thing) living on it. You can see it in our positive approach to people from other nations.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share the Green Party’s position on this important issue! I have signed the pledge and shared the graphic on my Facebook page.
Promoted by Harriet King on behalf of the Green Party both at The Gate, Keppoch Street, Cardiff CF24 3JW.
Fair Trade is such an important thing to support, Karl.