Food

1.  International campaigning good news on food — EU negotiators agree to introduce regulation to curb speculation in food by banks and hedge funds!

The new rules will limit the number of food contracts that banks and other financial institutions can hold, and will make for greater transparency in financial trading.  So there’ll be less to drive food prices up.  This goes some way towards what WDM’s been campaigning for.  The news broke on 14 January.

WDM Director Nick Dearden had this to say:

“Public outrage over food speculation has been huge and the fact that the EU has listened to that anger is a victory for public pressure. But the UK’s role in watering down the regulation has been a disgrace. The Treasury has put the profits of banks like Goldman Sachs above the basic human need for food, with the result that the new rules could be too weak to be effective. Yesterday’s agreement is a good step forward, but now we need to make sure the limits are set at a level that properly tackles excessive speculation.”

And we’re up for that further campaigning, Nick.  Those of us who’ve written to Vicky Ford MEP, or visited her in her Hardwick office, won’t be calling it a day just yet.