The investor-state dispute settlement needs greater scrutiny - Yorkshire Post Letters

From: Prof Dave Evans, Wymondham.

The UK government is currently being sued by foreign corporations in two separate cases. In one case, investors are suing over the government’s decision to stop a new polluting coal mine, Whitehaven in Cumbria. In the other, a Russian oligarch is challenging the freezing of his assets after the invasion of Ukraine. Together, these cases could cost the UK hundreds of millions of pounds.

What concerns me most is that these lawsuits aren’t based on UK laws, but through a secret system called investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS).

ISDS is fundamentally about democracy and fairness. ISDS gives corporations privileged access to their own court system which is separate from and outside our judicial system.

It is a threat to any and all campaigning. It is a threat to democracy, to climate action, to environmental protection, to food, health and hygiene standards. This is outrageous, and something we all should be working to dismantle.

ISDS deserves much greater public scrutiny and we should be asking whether a system that gives corporations such extensive powers is compatible with a healthy democracy.