Trade victory!

We did it! MPs have agreed changes which will mean the Government won’t be allowed to complete trade deals we’ve got with other countries in secret. MPs – and us – will now have a bigger say. And over half a million of us helped make it happen.

This is one of our biggest campaigns ever – and the result shows what we can achieve when we come together. We’ve helped make sure decisions about trade – that could affect everything from the quality of food in our shops to how much our NHS pays for vital medicines – aren’t made by a handful of people behind closed doors.

We’ve seen what the likes of Donald Trump want to get out of trade deals with the UK. Now, when people like him push for changes to current deals that risk watering down rules that make our food safe to eat or help protect our environment, they won’t just face a few people in government. They’ll have to face opposition from every single one of us. 

Here’s how we did it:

• We asked the government to give the public more of a say over trade deals which can affect us all by signing the petition. As I write this email, more than half a million of us have signed. Incredible.
• When a Conservative MP proposed changes to the government’s planswhich introduced more scrutiny, we emailed our MPs in our thousands to ask them to support the changes. 
• We made sure MPs heard our message loud and clear, wherever they went. We chipped in for adverts on national political websites, huge adverts in constituencies, and put up posters in our homes and local shops so MPs saw that their voters cared.
• We chipped in to pay for expert legal research to prove to MPs that the government’s original plans could spell bad news for cherished British foods like Cornish pasties, Scotch Whisky and Cumberland sausages.
• And we pulled out all the stops to convince MPs to vote for more scrutiny over trade deals. We emailed and tweeted our MPs in our thousands. Some of us even picked up the phone and spoke to them directly.

It’s not everyday that we win something like this. This Trade Bill is a big part of the government’s plans for Brexit. Together, we did everything we could to make sure the Trade Bill wouldn’t lock parliament and the public out. And it worked.

We’ll have more work to do to make sure future trade deals are as transparent as possible. But for now, I hope you’re proud of everything we’ve achieved together, so these important decisions won’t be made by a select few people in secret. They’ll be made with input from all of us.