Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Debate between Jo Stevens and Christian Matheson

Thursday 10th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Christian Matheson]

I believe that it is still going through the process, but it is the principle on which the case is based that concerns me: the principle that corporations should have their own private mechanism for resolving disputes, rather than adopting the accepted legal procedures of the country in question.

[Jo Stevens (Cardiff Central) (Lab)]

Does not the ISDS system effectively constitute a private court staffed by private judges with private lawyers, based on private law for private profits?

[Christian Matheson]

What a shame that I am not as articulate as my hon. Friend. She has hit the nail on the head. ISDS is a mechanism that undermines the rule of law by giving a separate system to large globalised corporations and taking away from them any sense of responsibility to elected Parliaments such as ours, or to countries like Egypt where we may be hoping to foster and develop democracy.