I have written an article for Politics Home, raising concerns with the glaring democratic deficits in how trade negotiations are managed and approved. 

In the article, I have said:

“Nearly nine years since the Brexit vote, this glaring democratic deficit persists. We were promised the return of parliamentary sovereignty, but trade negotiations remain cloaked in secrecy under the royal prerogative, a model virtually unchanged since the 1920s. While we were in the European Union, trade policy faced debate in Brussels, where MEPs steadily gained powers of oversight. But despite calls from civil society groups, academics, and five parliamentary committees, Westminster remains sidelined. The Lords Constitution Committee itself branded our trade scrutiny system “anachronistic and inadequate”.

“These negotiations affect every aspect of our daily lives – from the kind of food on our shelves to the cost of medicines and the rules governing foreign investment. Yet the people elected to represent us in Parliament are locked out of the process. They are denied the right to debate negotiating objectives, to see the papers, or to have a meaningful vote on the final deal. If they do get a vote at all, their power is limited to delaying a deal for a month – by which point, of course, the agreement may already be in effect.”

Read the article here.