Agenda item

To consider any Notices of Motion that have been received in accordance with Procedure Rule 12.

Two Notices of Motion had been submitted to Council in accordance with Procedure Rule 12.  The Motions were proposed and seconded and referred to the relevant decision-making body for determination as follows:

1          Potential Effects of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on Local Authorities

            Proposed by Councillor J Jackson and Seconded by Councillor A Harewood.

            This Council notes:

1.         That the EU and USA launched negotiations in July 2013 on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

2.         That negotiations are underway to determine which goods and services TTIP will apply to and if new rules can be agreed to protect investors, harmonise standards, reduce tariffs and open new markets throughout the EU and USA.

3.         That there has been no impact assessment about the potential impact on local authorities.

4.         That there has been no scrutiny of the negotiating texts by local government and no consultation with local government representatives

5.         That MPs are also unable to scrutinise the negotiating documents.

This Council wishes to express a concern that:

1.         TTIP could have a detrimental impact on local services, employment, suppliers and decision-making.

2.         A thorough impact assessment of TTIP on local authorities has not been undertaken and this needs to happen before the negotiations can be concluded.

3.         The proposed Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism has been used by corporations to overturn democratic decisions by all levels of governments at significant public cost. Local decision-making must be protected from ISDS.

4.         Sourcing supplies and employment locally is important to strengthening local economies and meeting local needs and TTIP must not impact on local authorities’ ability to act in the best interests of its communities.

This Council resolves:

1.         To write to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, our local MPs and the North-West region MEPs raising our serious concerns about the potential impact of TTIP (and especially the proposed ISDS mechanism) on local authorities.

2.         To call for an impact assessment on the potential impact of TTIP on local authorities.

The Motion was referred to Cabinet.

2          Ethical Investment Guidelines

            Proposed by Councillor S Corcoran and Seconded by Councillor L Jeuda.

            Council notes with alarm the recent statement from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) confirming that new guidelines will be introduced in 2016 which will curb councils’ powers to divest from or stop trading with organisations or countries they regard as unethical.

Council recognises that the focus of these new measures may be on procurement and investment policies and that they may have profound implications for councils’ ethical investment policies more generally.

Council believes that the proposed measures now being outlined by the DCLG will seriously undermine the Council’s ability to commit to ethical procurement and investments.

Council also notes that the new guidelines represent an attack on local democracy and decision-making through a restriction on councils’ powers. This is directly contrary to the government’s own stated commitment to the principle of localism, given a statutory basis by the Localism Act of 2011, which holds that local authorities are best able to do their job when they have genuine freedom to respond to what local people want, not what they are told to do by government.

Council therefore requests Cabinet takes action to oppose these new measures, including writing to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to express Council’s opposition to the proposed changes.

The Motion was referred to Cabinet.