Mike Davies responds to the TIDAL Fair 10 Challenge

Mike Davies, PPC Leeds East

1. People fleeing torture and persecution who seek sanctuary in the UK are forced to live on £37.77 per week because they are banned from working until their cases have been resolved, which can take years. In addition, every year over 1,000 refugee children are imprisoned in detention centres. Will you vigorously oppose the detention of children and families, and call upon the Home Office to allow asylum seekers the right to work whilst their cases are being considered?

   Yes. Detaining children who have committed no offence is a gross breach of human rights. Preventing people from working (and then allowing media and politicians to criticise them for not working!) is stupid and discriminatory -- unless the government's aim is to encourage both destitution and racism.

2. A 'Robin Hood Tax' of 0.05% on speculative banking transactions could raise hundreds of billions of pounds a year to tackle UK and global poverty and climate change. Will you proactively support the introduction of the Robin Hood Tax, including in any future votes in Parliament and by signing any relevant Early Day Motions that are tabled?

   Yes. But I would widen the definition of what is to be taxed to include all international currency transactions above £1,000. A definition like 'speculative' invites litigation and evasion, at which finance capitalists are skilled.

3. Produce grown on occupied Palestinian West Bank land is imported to the UK and labeled as Israeli, and thus Israel benefits from reduced import duties under the EU Trade Agreement. As settlements are illegal under international humanitarian law, do you support a complete UK ban on the importation of Israeli settlement products and will you write to the Foreign Secretary to call for such a ban?

   Yes. The settlements are illegal under international law and Britain should seek urgently to force their closure. Allowing the Israelis to break the law further by fraudulent labeling demonstrates how indulgent the west is to its Zionist protégés.

4. Do you support urgent action on climate change to secure a fair, ambitious and binding global deal in 2010, and will you support action and put pressure on the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change to ensure the UK achieves 40% cuts in emissions by 2020 and contributes its fair share of finance (around $200 billion a year in addition to existing aid payments) to help developing countries adapt to a changing climate?

   Yes. But I also recognise that the basic imperatives of capitalism mean that such cuts in emissions cannot be achieved while capitalism is the dominant global economic and political system. A system based on endless, unlimited growth and the pursuit of quicker and bigger profits than the next capitalist are not compatible with environmental sustainability.

5. The current government plans to spend £15-20bn on replacing Trident with a new generation of nuclear weapons. Will you pursue international nuclear disarmament and call upon the Government to cancel the full replacement of the Trident system, and instead make significant investment in green jobs, decarbonising the economy, healthcare, education, poverty, and unemployment?

   Yes. The use of nuclear weapons under any circumstance is illegal under international law. Their use would certainly be immoral. Britain should cease to possess nuclear weapons. The savings (much bigger than your estimate of £15-20bn) should be applied primarily to stopping climate change.

6. Despite the notable successes of campaigns such as Jubilee 2000 and Make Poverty History, still only 20% of unpayable poor country debt has bee n dropped. Would you be prepared to contact the Secretary of State for International Development about progress on international debt cancellation and to push for the creation of a fair, democratic and transparent debt tribunal run by the United Nations that would adjudicate on payability and legitimacy of debts?

   Yes. However, with regret I would dispute the 'successes' of campaigns such as Jubilee 2000 and Make Poverty History. I would characterize these campaigns as very well-intentioned but largely co-opted by governments such as our own to provide 'cover' for continued inaction.

7. The Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) employs 170 people with taxpayers' money, who work to market weapons to other countries, even where those weapons will be used to fuel conflict and aid repression. Will you seek to close down the DSO and oppose the level of financial support that weapons exports receive from the government, and pursue the matter with the Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment?

   Yes. The government should, as a minimum, cease to provide any financial or other support for arms exports. Such exports fuel regional arms races and enable illegal repression (including that of Palestinians by the Israelis).

8. Developing countries lose an estimated $160bn to tax evasion by companies every year. Will you write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking him/her to call for country-by-country reporting of profits and tax by multinational companies, an end to tax havens, and international transparency on tax?

   Yes. The continued laxity of the British government in international tax evasion (perhaps complicity in it would express it better) is scandalous, as is the continued provision of tax havens, including some of the leading ones, by British territories.

9. Leeds City Council recently committed to reducing the carbon emissions of the city by 40% by 2020. Will you write to the Secretary of State for Local Government to ask for Local Carbon Budgets that would place a cap on emissions in each local authority area, in line with the demands of the Friends of the Earth 'Get Serious about CO₂' campaign?

   Yes. I would support local authorities being required to set and publicise emissions caps for their own areas, provided they were also given the necessary local powers to achieve these.

10. The Office of Fair Trading has documented numerous examples of supermarkets dealing unfairly with their suppliers and farmers, from forcing them to pay for half-price deals to changing order volumes at the last minute, with no written contract. Will you work to ensure that an independent supermarkets ombudsman is put in place to uphold the new Groceries Code of Practice, including imposing fines where necessary, and report back to your constituents on progress made?

    Yes. Supermarkets are both an example of the pernicious effects of near-monopoly capitalism and, in particular, a major force for unfair practice in food trading and food production. They are a classic example of how the right-wing rhetoric about 'free markets' is actually used to support the entirely un-free market dominance of the few.

Mike Davies
is the AGS
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
for Leeds East
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