The government has launched a scathing attack on the lack of commitment to free trade in Europe and the wider international community.

Publishing a white paper entitled "Making globalisation a force for good", the Department of Trade and Industry condemned "hypocritical" western governments that preach free trade but fail to deliver.

In a staunch defence of the principle of lower tariff barriers, the DTI said the current Doha trade talks could produce benefits of between $250 billion and $600 billion a year.

And a deal that protects the interests of poorer nations could reduce the number of people living on less than $2 per day by 144 million.

A joint foreword to the paper by trade secretary Patricia Hewitt and prime minister Tony Blair said globalisation now "touches people's lives in ways not seen before"

"This has profound implications for the UK and for the rest of the world," they wrote.

Admitting that parts of the paper would disappoint some stakeholders, they pledged a continued dialogue on trade issues.

One passage certain to anger British unions defended the outsourcing of jobs to third world countries such as India.

'Force for good'

Hewitt said the government's approach to globalisation was about "making economic, social and environmental progress in such a way that we achieve development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

"At present, developed countries rightly stand accused of hypocrisy: preaching free trade to the rest of the world, imposing trade liberalisation upon developing countries through the IMF and World Bank, but keeping up their own trade barriers to protect their own agriculture and other special interests," said the report.

"Protectionism is expensive, inefficient and ultimately ineffective, damaging taxpayers and consumers alike."

The report warned that the European Union's common agricultural policy was doing "serious damage to farmers in the poorest countries of the world" as well as costing taxpayers and consumers billions of pounds each year.

"Similarly, United States tariffs on steel imports... not only damaged British steel companies and workers, but also imposed a significant tax on the US's own automobile industry, which had to pay higher prices for raw materials."

There was also a warning to continental governments that they "must resist the temptation to look inward and fall back on outdated protectionist policies".

The white paper argues that international trade and investment is not a zero-sum game.

It said that "one more job in India does not mean one less job in Britain"

"Above all, it is morally right that developing countries should be able to lift their people out of poverty," it added.

"But their growth is in our interest too: as people in the developing world become richer, we will all buy more from each other."

'Preaching'

Commenting on the announcement, the Liberal Democrats backed the government's intentions but questioned how the aims would be delivered.

"As is very often the case, the government is good on rhetoric but poor on the mechanisms of delivery," said trade and industry spokesman Malcolm Bruce.
 
"Patricia Hewitt must make clear how the UK can engineer a shift in the balance in world trade, without providing a license to exploit people in developing countries.
 
"Hewitt telling the EU how to conduct its trade policy comes in the wake of hard bargaining by the British government over the constitution, and may not be well received."

Bruce warned that the minister was preaching freer trade from a "high pulpit, and her audience may be disinclined to listen".

However, the CBI welcomed the report.

"I am proud that the UK is a global champion for free trade and this white paper keeps us on the right path," said director general Digby Jones.

"There is no question of the UK taking a step back towards the misguided development-through-protectionism agenda being espoused by many NGOs.

"If only some EU countries who talk about helping the poorest nations agreed to reform the common agricultural policy so much could be achieved."

Jones also said that business leaders agreed that the poorest countries should not be left behind in the era of globalisation.