Survey of MPs confirms TJM success

A new survey of MPs has revealed that the campaign for trade justice has had a huge impact. 

26 September, 2002

The TJM's campaign for fairer international trade was judged the most effective in the biannual charity awareness survey by nfpSynergy, an offshoot of the thinktank, Future Foundation. Beaten into second and third place were campaigns by the heavyweight Royal National Institute for the Deaf and the NSPCC. 

Letter and card-writing by campaigners and one of the biggest mass lobbies of parliament in history succeeded in raising MPs' awareness of public concern about the way international trade rules are loaded against poor countries and the environment.

More than 12,000 people from all over the UK lobbied 346 MPs - more than half those in Parliament on 19 June, 2002. The queue of people waiting to meet their MPs stretched from parliament, over the Thames and along the South Bank. 

The campaign raised so much interest that the prime minister, Tony Blair, who had rejected a call for a meeting, changed his mind and met TJM representatives on the morning of the lobby. The trade and industry minister, Patricia Hewitt, and the select committee on international development also asked the TJM to address them. 

Since the lobby, the TJM has seen a surge in member organisations - recently the TUC became the 55th group to sign up, joining organisations such as Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, Oxfam and CAFOD. And the lobby has encouraged MPs to push fair trade up the political agenda: 288 have signed an early day motion calling for trade justice. 

Simon Thomas, Plaid Cymru MP for Ceredigion, said: "I've had more correspondence on trade than any issue, yet it's hardly debated. The lobby gave me a chance to raise it in the Commons." 

Results are being seen at government level too. The TJM has had a breakfast meeting with the chancellor, Gordon Brown, international development secretary, Claire Short and Ms Hewitt. 

"We haven't won the argument on everything but the government seems to be moving towards ending EU common agricultiural policy subsidies that result in cheap produce being dumped on the third world," Ms Holt said. 

The TJM hopes to continue the pressure on MPs, with letters and more lobbying. That will be crucial to ensure the campaign's continued effectiveness, said Joe Saxton, manager of nfpSynergy. 

Its survey, released in September 2002, found that 35% of all MPs, across the political spectrum, remembered Trade Justice's campaign. That's a very high figure, when big campaign's like the NSPCC's Full Stop typically record 10-20% awareness. 

"However, the Full Stop campaign and RNID's digital hearing aids campaign have been fairly constantly in the top five campaigns for the past year or so," he said. "Trade Justice need to sustain that burst of interest." 

» Read more about TJM success in Guardian Society

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