David Norris (Independent)

I ask for a debate on the economy. This is a war situation. As I predicted, we are experiencing the slow-motion disintegration of capitalism as we know it. I ask the Leader to ask the Government to call for the establishment of the international financial court to try individuals and groups for economic crimes against humanity. This happened after the Nuremberg trials in Germany in the 1940s. I. G. Farben, Krupp and Thyssen, in addition to senior managerial staff from these and other companies, were arraigned, tried, indicted and convicted before the court.

The ratings agencies and groups such as Goldman Sachs have conspired internationally to create, or have created, the circumstances I describe. They are responsible and should be held responsible for the misery that has been inflicted. It has been very widely suggested and academic papers have been written to suggest some of the agencies have deliberately helped to foster circumstances in which famine will become prevalent in order to increase their financial reward. We must take this on, particularly in light of the treaty we are being asked to sign up to. I wonder how many people have read Article 32. Paragraph 3 states, "The ESM, its property, funding and assets, wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall enjoy immunity from every form of judicial process ... ." Paragraph 4 states, "The property, funding and assets of the ESM shall, wherever located and by whomsoever held, be immune from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation or any other form of seizure, taking or foreclosure by executive, judicial, administrative or legislative action." Paragraph 5 states, "The archives of the ESM and all documents belonging to the ESM or held by it, shall be inviolable." Paragraph 6 states, "The premises of the ESM shall be inviolable." What does that sound like to those present? It sounds very much like dictatorship.