Department for Trade and Industry

 

Trade and Industry

All countries need to trade, but trade is very complex.  The simplest form of trade is perhaps the 'farmers market'.  But don't look too closely.  It is highly likely that all the components in, say, the cake, will have complex ingredients involving grants, subsidies and incentives.  What about quarrying sand?  There is nothing simple about this too, because the sand may have an elevated, or depressed price, dependent on world markets.  These world markets will also be dependent on the golden rule, “I will always sell to the highest bidder, not matter what that might do to me in the future.”

If we can work out a system of trade that is more intelligent than this, that would be great?  The world GAT agreement attempts to do that, but sadly there are always losers.  The Gambia produces peanuts as a major cash crop, but Europe is in league with the USA on peanuts, so even though Gambian peanuts are cheaper, they are not sold, and some of the crop is even turned into cheap soap.

This government will have another go, and will aim to create more equitable partnerships around the world.  The challenge is, that fairtrade is what the world needs more than anything.  Fair trade is likely to bring much high levels of equality, which means a transfer of power from countries in the North, to the South.  This government will sign up to that, and take that risk. 

Industry.  The key industries that Britain should be involved in should be ones which will benefit the whole world.  This does not mean that the defence industry should be disenfranchised.  Instead, the emphasis given to this industry should be ‘defence’. Sadly whenever there is war, as there is currently, the defence industry goes into overdrive, because weapons are actually being tested, and this horrendous research then turns into a gruesome form of development.  Britain must hold to the principle of not facilitating mass killings in order to turn a profit. 

Defence in the modern era is also focused on cyber protection, and security systems to reduce external threats.  An example of this would be to ensure that everyone who enters the country is checked against a data bank of known foreign agents.  In this way, the men who arrived from Russia to poison people in Salisbury may have been detected.  Who knows.

Industry in the UK can help to protect and promote wellbeing.  Tech companies can do far more to protect children and adults alike, and this government will ensure that this happens.