Our place to talk – an independent website for supporters of the Liberal Democrat party in the UK.

The most-read independent website by and for Lib Dem supporters. Not paid for by trade unions or millionaires.

Advert

Author Archives: Stewart Tolley

The Liberal Democrats should oppose the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

By Stewart Tolley | Tue 25th April 2023 - 2:00 pm

Embed from Getty Images
Adam Smith in his seminal work The Wealth of Nations made the clear observation that trade ‘carried on with a neighbouring country is…more advantageous’ than that ‘with a distant country’ and he was even clearer that the most beneficial situation would come from ‘greater trade with continental Europe’ (Smith, 537).

Smith’s words are as true now as they were then but unfortunately the Conservative party (the supposed party of the economy who idealise Smith) have decided to ignore this. Ever since 2016 the determination to pursue hard Brexit has trumped all forms of economic credibility and common sense.

As with the imperialists of centuries ago who wanted to maximise trade with the Empire over our nearest neighbours the current crop of Tories have decided to pursue far flung trade deals to try and compensate for the barriers they have erected against the EU.

Continue reading »

Posted in Op-eds | Tagged brexit, CPTPP and Customs Union | 22 Comments

Most Read

Op-eds

Understanding the Syria conflicts (Paul Reynolds)
Beware asking ‘What next for Syria?’ (Jonathan Brown)
Shadows over Damascus: The unravelling of a regime (Mo Waqas)
Syrians are free at last (Jonathan Brown)
Tom Arms’ World Review (Tom Arms)

Advert

Tweets from @libdemvoice/team

Recent Comments

Jack Nicholls
Outstanding analogy, though no responsible local authority can now afford a leopard. Even Windsor....
Adam
"I understand there have been some indirect communications with HTS in recent years around combating IS, but that’s it." Considering that the leader curren...
Jonathan Brown
It was more than "Bashar's ineptitude" that resulted in Russia, the US, Türkiye, Israel, etc. getting involved... There was the small matter of him killing aro...
Jonathan Brown
Thanks Matthew. Ahmad, I think conflict with Israel is the last thing HTS has on its mind, though if Israel keeps bombing and grabbing more land I guess that...
Joseph Bourke
The UN Special Envoy, Norwegian diplomat Geir Pedersen has called for “urgent political talks” in Geneva to secure a peaceful future for Syria, and said th...