Letter: Fair v free trade

My GRAVEST sin as a parish minister was asking the General Assembly: "Is Fairtrade fair?" (your report, 1 March) and it would clearly have been less odious had I questioned the divinity of Christ.

However, in a former life I was an economist and felt it right to ask whether, as just another form of market manipulation, it really was so morally superior to free trade.

Fairtrade claims to bring better working conditions to poor producers, together with higher prices and better social infrastructure, but unsatisfactory practices abound at every level.

Poor farmers have to pay large sums to join and have to organise themselves in particular ways which are clearly not suitable for all producers, especially in the poorest countries.

It castigates free trade, but real development requires not only good governance, the rule of law and property rights but also free enterprise in markets at home and abroad.

(Rev Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews