BEXLEY: Fairtrade gets thumbs down from council
7:20am Monday 2nd March 2009 in News
Thamesmead East councillor Sandra Bauer lost her bid to make Bexley a Fairtrade borough
TORY councillors on Bexley Council have vetoed suggestions Bexley should become a Fairtrade borough.
Twenty London boroughs have already become Fairtrade boroughs and London Mayor Boris Johnson recently celebrated London’s achievement as a Fairtrade City.
But Labour Party proposals at last week’s Bexley Council meeting that Bexley should join the initiative and adopt a series of measures to try and qualify for Fairtrade borough status, were voted down.
Thamesmead East councillor Sandra Bauer, who put forward the suggestion, said all London councils were now being urged to join the Fairtrade movement which, she said, supported the poorest people in the world and showed there was a way out of poverty.
She said: “We have a moral responsibility to support Fairtrade.
“It is a small thing to do, but it has huge benefits.”
But many Tory councillors disagreed.
Some said it was the wrong economic time, with home manufacturers and producers suffering.
Councillor Colin Tandy said: “It is all very well to be concerned about people in far off lands, but our own farmers, especially dairy farmers, are going out of business.”
Others argued it was not the council’s place to tell people what to buy, and shops what goods to stock.
Councillor Colin Campbell said: “We should let people make their own choice.
“It is not the role of the council to put resources behind Fairtrade.
He added: “I don’t think there is anything wrong with Fairtrade, but it is not for me to impose this principle on others.”
Councillor John Davey accused Labour councillors of “being out of touch”.
Seven Tory councillors were not prepared to support the idea, but did not want to vote against it, and abstained.
Councillor Peter Catterall said “We should not pretend Fairtrade is the solution to the problems of the Third World.”
He said for example, African countries should be encouraged to trade more with each other.
Labour group leader on the council, Councillor Chris Ball argued there was nothing to stop people supporting both Fairtrade and British producers.
He said: “People are finding things tough, but we would not be forcing people to buy Fairtrade.
“The council would just be saying we think this is important.”
Eight Labour councillors voted in favour, with 44 Tories against and seven Tories abstaining.
Comments(4)
derekhope
says...
10:15am Tue 3 Mar 09
PGoodge
says...
1:59pm Tue 3 Mar 09
Why should the Council support things like Fairtrade, which WILL cost us money, when people here in Welling and in other parts of this Borough are loosing their jobs?
How out of touch with reality do you have to be to become a Labour Councillor? Is it all dependent on who writes the craziest ideas to spend tax payers money on?
My friends live over in Thamesmead in a lowrise tower block. One of them has just seen her days cut down from 5 to 3 a week and her partner has been out of a job for 3 months. Maybe they would like to see some fairtrade!
Howard Dawber
says...
12:25am Wed 4 Mar 09
The Conservative Councillors seemed to think Fairtrade coffee and chocolate would be more expensive - it isn't - and that they would help the UK farmer by not buying fairly bought coffee, tea and chocolate.
Those are three products which are NOT GROWN IN THIS COUNTRY. All Fairtrade does is take some of the profits from the huge multinational commodity traders and re-allocate them to the poorly paid people who actually grow and pick the product in the first place.
Fairtrade cotton T-shirts, incidentally, are made in the UK from fairly traded cotton. Fairtrade bicuits are made here from fairly traded ingredients. So you can support the UK producer and Fairtrade at the same time.
It's sad that while David Cameron makes such a big show about his support for Fairtrade, and former Council Leader Ian Clement and his new master Boris Johnson announce London to be a "Fairtrade city", our own local Tories are stuck in the past.
I suspect the 7 who abstained realised that they were about to do something really ignorant. . . good on them for having half the guts to do it.
chocoholix says...
12:52am Tue 3 Mar 09