Australian trade deal: a question missed

In the Commons yesterday, Greg Hands, Minister of State for trade policy,  was happy to bat away questions, too many of which were purely repetitious, about the welfare of cattle. I do believe he was sincere in believing that Australia would be rigorous in preventing hormone-treated beef being exported to the UK. The question of transporting live cattle and sheep over up to 48 hours is more difficult to police and there was no indication from the government that they would address that issue. There will now be pressure from farmers to withdraw government commitment to a law banning live stock transport, a matter which has over the years divided Welsh Liberal Democrats, bearing in mind our traditional significant farming constiutency. (I seem to recall at least one close vote on including a ban in our policy.) The PM's consort and the Labour party will no doubt be put out if the government reneges on the Queen's Speech commitment, but in this I believe the government will want to be seen to maintain a level playing-field.

What worries me more is something which has more wide-ranging implications, a binding dispute resolution procedure. The openness of a tribunal to rule on business disputes was an obstacle to Canada concluding a trade deal with the EU. In the end, Canada backed down on her initial proposition that such tribunals should meet in camera. Another term for the procedure is Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and is explained on an Australian government Web site. ISDS appears to be included in all Australian trade deals signed so far, and it is part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Hands sees the Australia deal as a stepping-stone to inclusion in the CPTPP for the UK. This article implies that ISDS is an opaque procedure as opposed to the EU's investment courts. 

One trusts that the whole draft trade agreement will be debated in the Commons and that the question of dispute settlement will be examined. Small businesses and public services, especially the NHS, may depend on it.