A PROPOSAL that Tavistock Town Council should throw its weight behind the Fairtrade campaign was rejected by councillors at their meeting last week. Members of the town?s finance and general purposes committee were asked to back a motion by Cllr Iain Andrews, which proposed the council should do all it could to support and increase the sale of products with the Fairtrade mark. Cllr Andrews said the UK was the fourth richest country in the world and as such had a responsibility towards developing Third World countries. ?We are talking about people that are trying to help themselves. I would like the Fairtrade foundation to be a more wide-ranging organisation that embraces all producers who are being disadvantaged by supermarkets, but until we make sure it?s adopted in its present form by responsible people, we won?t change the dreadful situation that half the world finds itself in,? he said. Cllr Caroline Keane said: ?Worldwide poverty is something that sits on all our shoulders. I think this council has a very evident responsibility of care and I really can?t see how it can?t support such a thing.? Cllr Norma Woodcock said she was ?totally and absolutely? behind the Fairtrade movement ? but she questioned whether it was within the council?s remit to back it as an authority. She said it was very important that society was well informed about such issues as child abuse or the importance of green issues and clean air ? but it was not a function of the council to pursue such issues. Cllr Woodcock said: ?I would fight against this council taking on this particular task, not because we don?t support Fairtrade, but because it is not appropriate that we take it on.? She suggested it was for the Fairtrade steering group, recently set up in Tavistock, to publicise the movement around the town. Cllr Jane Ramsey said: ?I strongly oppose supporting Fairtrade. I don?t feel we should be supporting some businesses over and above any other local business and I don?t think the council should be supporting it ? it?s something I feel very strongly about.? Cllr Robin Pike said West Devon had its own problems and although it was right to support Third World countries, producers in this area had enough to contend with. Cllr Jenny Metcalf, mayor of Tavistock, said the council could be in danger of ?putting people?s backs up? if it decided to become a Fairtrade authority. Although the movement was ?very laudable?, she felt it might be counter-productive for the council to sign up to it. The committee rejected the proposal by four votes to three ? the decision was due to be ratified by the full council at its meeting on Tuesday night this week.
