PRESS RELEASE
15 November 2005

RECORD TRADE LOBBY TURNS UP HEAT ON BLAIR

Pressure on Tony Blair to lead a pro-poor global trade deal intensifies as MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaigners announce that their mass lobby of Parliament to stop developing countries being pushed to open their markets broke a British record.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY and the Trade Justice Movement today announce that the mass lobby of parliament held on 2 November was the largest in the history of modern British democracy with trade justice campaigners lobbying 375 MPs in a single day. 

Over 8,000 campaigners joined the lobby with a demand that the UK Government and its European Union (EU) partners stop pushing poor countries to open their markets in approaching world trade talks.   They warned the Prime Minister that generations of people will continue to live in poverty if his manifesto promise to allow poor countries to protect their markets is broken. 

European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson has tabled an EU offer at the WTO talks that does not address the scandal of subsidised products dumped in poor country markets and also calls for developing countries to open their markets to rich countries. Campaigners say this latest move places trade talks on completely the wrong track to make poverty history.        

Glen Tarman, Trade Justice Movement coordinator, said for MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY:

 "As the WTO meeting fast approaches, no politician in this country can claim not to have heard the demands of campaigners.  The Prime Minister is right to say that making trade work for all is a test. Yet, unless he acts now to change the poverty making offer and aggressive agenda Europe has put forward, that test will be failed."

"If we are to make poverty history, the UK and the EU must allow poor countries the freedom to choose how to make trade work best for their economies.  MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY calls for justice not charity and now that the spotlight is shining on the WTO, the UK Government must take action on its promises to deliver justice for the world's poor."

The mass lobby is the latest event supporting the campaign's demand for trade justice not free trade which has been gathering momentum as December's World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks approach.  In April, 25,000 people took part in an overnight vigil for trade justice; it was the biggest protest in an election period and nearly one million of the UK electorate have cast a Vote for Trade Justice in a special ballot calling on the Government to urgently deliver a just trade deal for the world's poor.  

As Blair talks of global leadership, campaigners across the UK prepare for Saturday 10 December, the third White Band Day in the year of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY, just days before the WTO meeting begins.  It is a day of global campaigning when trade justice campaigners will stand together as part of an unparalleled mobilisation of hundreds of millions of ordinary people.  The call will be the same whatever the location: Tony Blair and other rich country leaders must make radical changes to the way world trade is currently managed so it benefits poor people and the environment and not just the rich and powerful.

For more information visit www.tjm.org.uk or www.makepovertyhistory.org. 

ENDS

Media contact:
Catherine Cullen, Media Co-ordinator, MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY: 020 7561 7572, catherine.cullen@actionaid.org.  

Notes for Editors:

• The UK Government's 2005 election manifesto included an important new policy, which states that poor countries should not be forced to open their markets.  Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alan Johnson has recently assured that this policy is his priority for the WTO.  Campaigners welcome the new 'no forced liberalisation' policy but are urging for evidence of it in practice.

The Trade Justice Movement

• The Trade Justice Movement's mass lobby of Parliament in June 2002 was the previous largest-ever such event with 346 MPs lobbied. This was followed in 2003 by the biggest national lobby of MPs when more than 500 parliamentarians were lobbied in their constituencies ahead of the last WTO ministerial meeting in Cancún , Mexico , when talks collapsed due to the intransigence of rich countries.

• The Trade Justice Movement (www.tjm.org.uk) is a coalition of more than 70 UK organisations, including campaign groups, trade unions, faith groups and environmental and development organisations, with a combined membership of over 9 million people. The Trade Justice Movement is one of the networks at the core of Make Poverty History (www.makepovertyhistory.org) - an unprecedented coalition of more than 500 organisations calling for trade justice, drop the debt and more and better aid. 

• The Trade Justice Movement's Mass Lobby of Parliament in June 2002 set the previous record for the largest-ever such event with 346 MPs lobbied. This was followed in 2003 by the biggest national lobby of MPs when more than 500 parliamentarians were lobbied in their constituencies ahead of the last WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancún , Mexico , when talks collapsed. In April 2005 the coalition staged the biggest mass protest of the UK election campaign when over 25,000 people filled Whitehall at an all-night vigil. 

• The World Trade Organisation (WTO) holds its sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong , China from 13 to 18 December 2005. The EU represents the UK at the WTO as a trading bloc with a common trade policy. European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson negotiates on behalf of European member states.

MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY

• MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY is a unique UK alliance of over 500 charities, trade unions and campaigning groups supported by leading public figures and celebrities who are all mobilising around key opportunities in 2005 to drive forward the struggle against poverty and injustice working in partnership with the Global Call to Action against Poverty.

• The campaign was launched on 1 January 2005 and will run until the end of the year.

• 2005 is particularly important as the UK chaired the G8 meeting of powerful countries from 6-8 July and holds the 6-month presidency of the European Union. 

• MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY challenges the government to deliver trade justice, drop the debt and deliver more and better aid in order to eradicate global poverty.

• 1 July was the first international 'White Band Day'. Millions of people wore the white band and iconic buildings in each continent were wrapped in the symbol of the global campaign to make poverty history. White Band Day 2 took place on 10 September around the world. White Band Day 3 will take place on 10 December just ahead of the WTO meeting.

• 250,000 people attended the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY rally in Edinburgh on 2 July forming a huge white band around the city centre. 

• For further information; photography; copies of our 'Make History' report on global poverty; a full list of coalition members; and for details of our key challenges to government visit the media section of the website: www.makepovertyhistory.org/media. 

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