Stop the TPP and TISA entering the UK by the back door

We urgently need to see honest and open discussion about the transatlantic trade agreements.

TISA: Selling off public services

The Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) aims to turn public services like health, education, water and sanitation into commodities for trade – essentially, to privatise them. It threatens to exclude millions of people worldwide from access to these vital services.

Negotiations on the TISA deal began in 2012. It involves 50 countries, including the UK and the rest of the EU. It was initiated following the stalling of talks on services at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), due to opposition from many, mainly poorer countries.

The TISA deal aims to make it much easier for multinational companies to get involved in the provision of essential services. Public services play a crucial role in tackling poverty and inequality. But the TiSA deal would restrict the legal powers of governments to run services like education and water for the benefit of their citizens.

The TiSA would worsen the situation of migrant workers by limiting the ability of governments to protect their rights. It also seeks to further reduce regulation governing the international finance sector – despite the financial crisis which resulted from an already deregulated finance industry.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a trade deal being negotiated between 12 countries in North America, Latin America, Australasia and the Pacific. Like the TTIP and other trade deals, it aims to increase the power of big business over many areas of life, including public services and democracy.

But the TPP deal goes even further, by committing governments to allowing multinational companies access to all public and other services, unless they have been specifically excluded.