MADAM – Do we, as a nation, have a democratic right to decide, for example, whether to allow fracking or to ban it: to sell cigarettes in plain packaging: to regulate sugar and other additives in food?

Maybe for not much longer.

At the moment, negotiations are taking place to establish a trade deal between the EU and the US, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The US is determined to include rules that will allow corporations to sue our elected governments in secret courts, or ‘investor state dispute settlement’.

But under pressure, the EU have committed to ask citizens what they think.

We’ve seen how this system works already around the world – it’s not good.

Ecuador is being sued by Chevron because the country is requiring it to clean up a huge toxic oil spill in the heart of the Ecuadorian rainforest.

Australia is being sued by Phillip Morris because it wants to take action to curb teenage smoking.

Even Germany is being sued by a Swedish energy company because it wants to phase out nuclear power.

This means that big business will have the power to overthrow, by court action, decisions that have been democratically arrived at.

The courts that oversee these disputes will operate in secret.

This is a fundamental assault on democracy.

The EU has called for public comment but the deadline for submissions is in just a few days, so we’ve not got long to make sure the EU knows what we think about secret corporate courts.

Now, there is on the net a tool to make submitting your official comment.

This is at http://action.sumofus.org/a/tpp-lawsuits/?sub=homepage

These secret courts would be created under rules called ‘Investor-State Arbitration Settlement’, or ISDS.

It would set up a system of tribunals where corporations could take our government to court if they didn’t like a particular law that they thought harmed their business.

The EU’s consultation is a great first step – and it shows that pressure to drop the deal from all over the EU is starting to work.

Now the EU have said they’ll listen, we need to make sure they hear from us.

We know the public is against these rules – but the EU needs to hear that loud and clear.

Making a comment is easy with this new tool, and it’s our best chance of stopping these secret corporate courts.

Roger Plenty

Stroud