What’s the quid pro quo in the US trade deal? - Yorkshire Post Letters

News that the Prime Minister and President Trump have concluded a trade deal may seem welcome to those in the steel and motor industries. But what’s the quid pro quo?

Has Sir Keir been able to protect the NHS from increased costs caused by limitations on generic medicines? Have we lost the NHS’ invaluable database, enabling corporate exploitation for commercial profit?

Has the government agreed to go easy on copyright and individuals’ data - allowing tech giants to build their AI systems on our snaps, writings and artworks for free and with no accountability?

Has the government sold out on our food and farmers - allowing lower animal welfare and food hygiene to slip along with measures rejected by the public like animals being routinely dosed with additives, hormones and antibiotics?

People may be free to buy cheap (market undercutting) food but ‘choice’ is a weasel word for poor people or those fed in institutions.

Or will the pay-back be political - carrying on turning a blind eye to the asymmetrical kill-rate in the Middle East, providing resources like Diego Garcia, not supporting a Fossil Fuel non-proliferation Treaty or dropping moves to make ‘Big Tech’ (the likes of Apple, Meta and Amazon) pay a fair tax on the profits they make here?

Parliament should scrutinise any trade deal with such an unreliable and volatile party and not allow itself and our nation to be sold out to a bully.