MPs should be able to debate, amend and approve a mandate for the

Hear, O children of tomorrow, the words of Barry Gardiner: “MPs should be able to debate, amend and approve a mandate for the negotiation of any trade agreement before talks start, based on an independent impact assessment of what social, economic and environmental risks might be expected.” This is not the idle speech of a politician, but the cry of a guardian who would protect his people from the silent chains of hidden bargains. For in the dealings between nations, fortunes are gained and freedoms are lost, not on the battlefield, but at the table where signatures bind generations to paths unseen.

When Gardiner calls for debate and amendment, he calls for the light of many voices, so that no single tongue may decide the fate of the many. He warns us that trade agreements are not mere parchments of commerce—they are covenants that reach into the homes of workers, the fields of farmers, the very air and water of the land. To entrust such power to secrecy is to build a tower without foundations, which in time must fall and crush those who dwell beneath its shadow.

Consider the tale of the Treaty of Versailles, forged in the ashes of the Great War. Without full and open counsel, the victors imposed crushing terms upon Germany, believing they had secured peace. Yet the seeds of bitterness were sown, and within a generation the world was plunged into an even darker conflict. Here we see the danger of agreements crafted without balance, without true assessment of their social and economic impact. What was meant as a covenant of peace became instead a chain of resentment, leading to ruin.

Thus Gardiner demands an independent impact assessment—a voice unbent by profit or pride, a mirror held to the future, reflecting the costs that cannot yet be seen. For what if a trade agreement enriches merchants but poisons rivers? What if it strengthens the treasury but casts workers into poverty? What if it opens markets but closes the doors of small communities? Only when the risks are revealed in their fullness can the people’s representatives stand guard against betrayal.

The ancients would say: governance without counsel is tyranny, and commerce without justice is theft. In the days of the Roman Republic, the Senate debated fiercely before sending envoys abroad, for they knew that treaties, once struck, could lift or ruin the empire. To debate openly, to amend wisely, to approve only after foresight—this was the shield of the people against the ambition of the few. Without such practices, even the mightiest nation becomes vulnerable to its own blindness.

For us, the lesson resounds like a bell across the ages: demand transparency, demand participation, demand that your leaders weigh not only the gold of trade but the hearts of the people and the health of the earth. As citizens, we must not sleep while agreements are made in our name; we must awaken, ask, and hold accountable those who would bind us to paths unseen. In truth, every voice lifted in vigilance is a stone laid in the fortress of freedom.

Practical action begins in small ways: read and learn of the agreements being made, speak with others, raise questions to those in power. Do not be silent when the rivers are at risk, when jobs are imperiled, when justice is overlooked in the name of profit. Encourage leaders to consider the social, economic, and environmental costs—not only for today, but for generations yet unborn. For every treaty that honors both prosperity and justice is a step toward harmony among nations; every secret covenant, a step toward decay.

Therefore, let Gardiner’s words be etched upon your hearts: true governance requires light, not shadow. Let MPs and leaders alike be guardians, not masters, and let every trade agreement be born of wisdom, justice, and care for creation. In this way shall the nations prosper without corruption, and the people walk in dignity beneath the law of fairness that unites both heaven and earth.