Browse content similar to 06/07/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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we ourselves hold as an opinion but what other people might think and | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
we'll leave it there for now. We now come to business questions. Valerie | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
vows. Could the Leader of the House please | :00:00. | :00:18. | |
give us the forthcoming business? Thank you, Mr Speaker. The business | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
for next week will be Monday 10th of July, second reading of the relief | :00:23. | :00:30. | |
from non-domestic rate is built. 11 of July, consideration in committee | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
and remaining stages of the organising bill following by the | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
bill procedure. Wednesday 12 July, a general debate on the Grenfell Tower | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
Fire enquiry and Thursday 13th July, general debate on the commemoration | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
of Passchendaele. 14 July, the House will not be sitting. I would also | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
like to inform the House that the business at Westminster Hall for the | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
13th of July, will be Thursday 13th July, debate on the supply of homes | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
and affordable homes to buy followed by a debate on the introduction of | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
an opt out system for organ donation in England. Colleagues will want to | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
be aware that the election of select committee chairs will take place on | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
Wednesday 12 July from 10am until 4pm in committee room eight. | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
Finally, Mr Speaker, I was delighted to hear of the hard work that both | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
you and the lord Speaker have put in to ensure the parliament properly | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
marks pride weekend. Among other activities, the rainbow coloured | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
flag will be projected onto the Palace for the duration of the | :01:41. | :01:44. | |
weekend and I am sure members from across the House in this, the most | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
diverse parliament ever, will join me in sending our best wishes to all | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
those celebrating this weekend and the rest of pride month. Thank you. | :01:54. | :02:01. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker and can I join the Leader of the House and her good | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
wishes for everyone taking part in pride week and know that we are in | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
the business of equality for everyone. Maybe you need to wear a | :02:11. | :02:19. | |
rainbow tie next week. I probably want require any encouragement. Can | :02:20. | :02:25. | |
I thank the Leader of the House but she made no mention of the specific | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
debate I asked for last week on the judgments that were made in the High | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
Court, particularly on the plan for clean air and the benefit caps. She | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
also made no mention of any opposition dates. The last time we | :02:40. | :02:44. | |
had an opposition date was in January. She also made no mention of | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
when she is going to schedule the debate on the instruments on tuition | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
fees regulations. It is important, Mr Speaker, particularly as the | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
Institute for Fiscal Studies and the latest report said that students in | :03:01. | :03:03. | |
England are going to graduate with an average debt of ?50,800 after | :03:04. | :03:10. | |
interest rates are raised on student loans to 6.1% in September. Interest | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
rates, they say, are very high compared with the current market | :03:17. | :03:19. | |
rate. The report also goes on to state that with a higher debt, | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
students from the purest 40% of families now accrue around 6500 in | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
interest during the study. The first Secretary of State in a speech at | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
earlier, said there was a national debate we need to have about | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
university tuition fees. I do not know where he was from May until the | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
8th of June but he is the got an answer, a minority Government. Could | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
the Leader of the House please honour that parliamentary convention | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
and let's debate that Dutch cherry instrument. It seems young people | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
are being rejected by this minority Government. Can we also have a | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
debate about women against eight pensions inequality. It is so far | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
been signed by 124 honourable members from all parties. There was | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
a debate in Westminster Hall yesterday, which was oversubscribed. | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
Standing room only. Could the Leader of the House please find time to | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
debate this injustice to 1950s women. Or are those 1950s women also | :04:22. | :04:27. | |
rejected by the minority Government? So far the financial Hall is ?1.5 | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
billion for the deal, the National U-turn has left a 2 billion hole in | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
public finances over the next five years. The concession last week in | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
support of women in Northern Ireland quite rightly was made, but has not | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
been costed. Many other Secretary of State had been acting for extra | :04:48. | :04:51. | |
money, 1 billion for education, Secretary of State has also asked | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
for money. The financial Hall is getting bigger. The Government | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
announced in the Queen's speech that the world have refinanced bills over | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
the course of this Parliament. Could she say when we will have the summer | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
Finance bill, which I think has been suggested by the Treasury and picked | :05:08. | :05:11. | |
up by the shadow Treasury team? Unless there is going to be no in | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
Parliament, just an announcement in October in Manchester. Guess who | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
said this, tell the others who have got their own opinion to shut up. | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
There is a sense you have at the moment of everybody doing their own | :05:26. | :05:28. | |
thing, nobody asserting what they want to do in the national interest. | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
We cannot go on living from hand to mouth in this sort of shambolic way. | :05:34. | :05:45. | |
Former Tory party chairman lord Patten. He said that, Mr Speaker, | :05:46. | :05:52. | |
because of this... On the 3rd of July, in response to the honourable | :05:53. | :05:55. | |
member's written question, the Government's manifesto had a free | :05:56. | :06:03. | |
vote on the hunting bill. A U-turn. Free school meals, the Minister has | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
responded this week. The Government has decided it is right to retain | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
the existing universal infant free school meal provision. A U-turn. | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
Grammar schools, the Secretary of State for Education confirmed any | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
written to the honourable member there is no education bill in the | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
Queen's speech and therefore, the ban on opening new grammar schools | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
will remain in place. Another U-turn. The triple lock on pensions. | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
The Government wanted to scrap the loch by 2020 because of their deal | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
to stay in Parliament. Another U-turn. Winter fuel allowance. The | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
Government's means testing has been dropped. Another U-turn. Everything | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
in their manifesto, all dropped. No policy. What is left? Strong and | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
stable. I think that is another U-turn. Mr Speaker, you will | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
remember that the Prime Minister was billed as the second incarnation of | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
another female Prime Minister, whose nickname for those of us who can | :07:05. | :07:09. | |
remember was Jena. There is no alternative. We say, in Her | :07:10. | :07:17. | |
Majesty's opposition, here we are, there is an alternative. -- nickname | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
was Tina. Can I start by replying to the | :07:22. | :07:36. | |
honourable lady on the subject of, as she puts it, U-turn is. Just | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
explain to her that, as she knows, as all honourable members know, this | :07:43. | :07:45. | |
result of the journal collection was not as we would have wished it. We | :07:46. | :07:51. | |
do not have the majority we would have wished for. All members can | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
satisfy themselves that therefore, the measures that are being brought | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
forward by this Government are focused on those measures that we | :08:01. | :08:06. | |
can all support. Making a success of leaving the European union, making | :08:07. | :08:11. | |
sure that we can continue to trade and collaborate with our EU friends | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
and partners. Secondly, strengthening the economy. New | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
measures on being a world leader in autonomous vehicles, commercial | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
space flights, industries of the future that will create the jobs of | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
the future. Thirdly, improving our society. We went to see strength and | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
support for the mental health problems in our society and measures | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
to protect people from domestic violence. These are measures the | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
whole house can get behind. More measures to strengthen the United | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
Kingdom, to prevent extremism and to protect us from terrorism. These are | :08:48. | :08:50. | |
the sorts of measures that this Government will be bringing forward | :08:51. | :08:55. | |
that I do urge all members to look at and take very seriously. This | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
will represent real progress in this Government. Specifically on her | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
points on some of the court judgments that are before us, those | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
remain with judges and so, as she will know, we do not comment on | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
judgments, as she would wish is to do. On opposition days and sitting | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
Fridays, Private member Hills days and so on, those will be brought on | :09:19. | :09:23. | |
in due course. They will be at least in line with the number of days | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
provided in standing orders but there will be other days provided in | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
addition to that through the usual channels. Then she talks about the | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
debate on student fees. She points out the interest rates on student | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
fees. I do need to set clear for the House that student debt is not like | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
normal commercial loans. Student fees are made available to all | :09:48. | :09:51. | |
students, regardless of their financial history. The repayable | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
according to income, not according to the amount due. Of course, the | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
off by the taxpayer after 30 years. They are not like normal commercial | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
loans. The act more as a contribution, only a contribution | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
because the taxpayer continues to pacing of the concerns, towards the | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
cost of receiving a degree that means that individual will earn more | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
during their career. Erin more than those taxpayers who do not have the | :10:23. | :10:27. | |
benefit of a degree. It tends to be fair to the student and fear to the | :10:28. | :10:35. | |
taxpayer. I want to point out our measures to improve apprenticeships, | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
nearly 3 million in the last Parliament and a commitment to many | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
more millions of apprenticeships in this Parliament offer real | :10:43. | :10:44. | |
alternatives to young people who do not want a good university. Finally, | :10:45. | :10:53. | |
the point made by the University -- the point made by the Prime | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
Minister, that should be a good thing, celebrated by the whole | :10:59. | :11:06. | |
house. Thank you. I am sure the Leader of the House will agree that | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
the House would want an early debate on any Government programme where | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
the costs are rising, where it is looking like it is not good money | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
for a value for the taxpayer, where senior personnel are leaving, where | :11:20. | :11:24. | |
procurement processes are down and where technology is being overtaken | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
by other more moderate developments. Can we have an early debate on the | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
phase one of the high-speed rail before we enter into the folly of | :11:34. | :11:41. | |
entering into phase two. Can we see whether if it is going ahead, it | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
could be used for another form of transport, perhaps for those | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
autonomous vehicles on which the Leader of the House is so keen. | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
Well, my right honourable friend and I have worked for a very long time | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
on representing both constituencies of hours in every way we possibly | :12:01. | :12:07. | |
can. My constituents are to Iraq have grave concerns about the impact | :12:08. | :12:14. | |
as it passes through our constituencies. -- have grave | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
concerns. I am sympathetic to her cause. She knows as well as I do, | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
that is a commitment to the high-speed rail. These one has | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
received a cent. We will continue to look at the construction phase and | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
what more can be done to compensate our constituents. A lot of my | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
constituents are very hacked off about the matter as well. I thank | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
the House for what passes for business for next week. Can I join | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
her in wishing well all of those participating in pride week. There | :12:48. | :12:56. | |
are no this week. Anon next week probably no votes before we get into | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
the summer recess. This is quickly becoming the zombie cop flicks | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
Parliament -- Apocalypse Parliament where they look for brains only to | :13:06. | :13:11. | |
seek the help all left the country, like everybody else. I wonder how | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
long they will be able to pad out the business. The will of this house | :13:16. | :13:24. | |
will have to be tested. We are all going to be deciding the chairs of | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
the select committee. It is good to see the select committees up and | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
running but what is happening with the standing committees of this | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
house? They have already passed secondary bills and another one next | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
week, they have to have a conversation and discussion about | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
them because they are important than the passing of legislation. I have | :13:46. | :13:48. | |
looked at the arithmetic and I have figured out they should be nine | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
Conservative members, seven Labour members and to SNP members. The | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
reader of the House can correct me if I have that wrong but when will | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
we see in Motion coming to this house. When will be standing | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
committees be up and running? Can I support the shadow Leader of the | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
House on having a full debate on the 50s women issue. There are so many | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
members of Parliament wanted to represent their view my constituents | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
born in the 1950s. We have to have the debate here on the House and | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
noticed there is a cooling in the mid and Conservative members of | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
this. We saw that ?1 billion bill for the DP. Let's have a vote here. | :14:31. | :14:37. | |
Lastly, it was one year ago before we had the Chilcott report. I | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
remember we debated this for two days. Today, Sir John Chilcott said | :14:43. | :14:45. | |
that Tony Blair was not straight with the nation. Is it now not time | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
for a parliamentary committee to investigate this properly and take | :14:51. | :14:52. | |
appropriate action against the Thank you, Mr Speaker. I encourage | :14:53. | :15:04. | |
the honourable gentleman to consider, perhaps in Hansard, if he | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
wasn't listening, the strong case and made for the measures this | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
government will be taking to significantly take steps forward for | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
our country to improve the situation for all of our residents across the | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
UK. He says there have been no votes, and that is testament to the | :15:24. | :15:29. | |
agreement across the House that's what we are doing is right. I | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
encourage him and his honourable friends to continue to support the | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
government efforts. His comments on standing committees are being looked | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
at. They will be appointed in due course and those issues will be | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
resolved. On the Waspi issue, we have had five debates on this, and | :15:50. | :15:57. | |
as with all high-profile and very concerning issues, the government | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
continues to look at these issues. But he will appreciate that | :16:03. | :16:05. | |
unfortunately, we are still trying to deal with the problems in our | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
economy left to us by the last Labour government. No, you might | :16:10. | :16:19. | |
groan on the opposition benches, but the reality is that this government | :16:20. | :16:22. | |
is still clearing up the mess from the last Labour government. | :16:23. | :16:31. | |
Therefore, we have had to take tough decisions across those people coming | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
up to retirement age as well as those of working age. His final | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
point about the Chilcot Inquiry, that was a seven-year long inquiry. | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
The government has looked at this in great length and it has been | :16:44. | :16:47. | |
discussed. And the government continues to learn the lessons from | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
the Chilcot Inquiry and will be committed to continuing to do so. | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
But it doesn't have plans at the moment to reopen a further inquiry. | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
Can we have a statement from the Secretary of State for the | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
environment about dog thefts and dogfighting? There are far too many | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
dog thefts in my part of the world and probably others, many of which | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
are used as bait for dogfighting, which is disgusting. There appears | :17:15. | :17:21. | |
to be not enough done about this by the law enforcement agencies and | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
animal welfare agencies. Can we have a statement from the Secretary of | :17:26. | :17:28. | |
State as to what he intends to do to clamp down on this disgusting | :17:29. | :17:35. | |
practice? Right honourable friend raises an important point. There is | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
no doubt that we are a nation of dog lovers. As Secretary of State for | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
Defra, I did spend a lot of time trying to improve the rules on puppy | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
licensing, to get backstreet breeders out of the way and improve | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
the issues around animal welfare and training. But he raises an important | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
point and I encourage him to get in touch with Defra again on what is an | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
important matter for all of us. South Yorkshire has lost over 400 | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
police officers since 2010. Can I ask the Leader of the House if we | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
could have a debate on what extra resources can be made available to | :18:14. | :18:21. | |
make people in Barnsley safe? I would like to welcome the honourable | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
lady to her place and wish her success in her new role in this | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
House. She raises an important matter across the country, that of | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
policing. She will know the government has protected police | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
funding in real terms. I met my own police and crime commission only | :18:43. | :18:45. | |
yesterday to talk about the difference in the way that policing | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
is happening. She will be pleased to know that crime has fallen by a | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
third since 2010, enabling police forces to put more into cyber crime | :18:56. | :18:58. | |
and crime prevention and online crime. Nevertheless, the relevant | :18:59. | :19:08. | |
minister will have heard her points. With my honourable friend find time | :19:09. | :19:11. | |
for a debate on the criteria for awarding city status? In every | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
respect, Southend-on-Sea, with its many qualities, should already be a | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
city. I believe it is an oversight which attention could be drawn to in | :19:24. | :19:30. | |
a general debate. My honourable friend is a huge supporter of his | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
constituency in Southend. I am sure all members will have spent happy | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
hours on the beaches there. Nevertheless, he will appreciate | :19:40. | :19:48. | |
that city status is a rare privilege to be conferred by Her Majesty on | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
advice from ministers and not something for this House. In the | :19:52. | :19:59. | |
last Parliament, I rose to seek the support of the then Prime Minister | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
for a constituent who has been missing in Spain since November | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
2015, Lisa Brown. I now found myself having to rise again in relation to | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
an additional constituent, Caroline Hope, who in travelling to Turkey on | :20:14. | :20:15. | |
personal matters before returning home to Scotland has been diagnosed | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
with cancer and sought emergency surgery and has now been infected | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
with E. Coli and is now having to rely on the support of family and | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
friends and strangers to raise over ?30,000 to bring Caroline home to | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
Scotland to West Dunbartonshire. Could I impress upon the Leader of | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
the House to seek from the Foreign Commonwealth Office and the Foreign | :20:41. | :20:42. | |
Secretary a quick response to a letter I have sent to them this week | :20:43. | :20:48. | |
in terms of both Caroline's situation and for further support in | :20:49. | :20:51. | |
terms of Lisa being missing in Spain? I am obviously incredibly | :20:52. | :21:00. | |
sympathetic. That sounds like a terrible situation. He will be aware | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
that there are oral questions to the Foreign Office next week and he may | :21:06. | :21:12. | |
wish to raise it then. My village is lucky in the sense that it had flood | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
defences put in place before the Boxing Day flood. But the water | :21:18. | :21:20. | |
still got within one inch of people's doorstep and my village | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
nearby had similar problems. The devastation has been huge and there | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
has been a rush to put bigger flood defences in column but could I have | :21:30. | :21:32. | |
a statement from the relevant minister in relation to the flood | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
strategy for Leeds and with specific mention unconcern of what modelling | :21:38. | :21:39. | |
has been done to ensure that more water is not coming down to my | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
villages, which already have flood defences in place, but came close to | :21:44. | :21:51. | |
being breached. I had the great pleasure as Environment Secretary to | :21:52. | :21:54. | |
go to Leeds last year to see the new proposed move weirs, which should | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
make a big difference to the ability to prevent water becoming | :21:59. | :22:06. | |
overwhelming. The Environment Agency is working with Leeds City Council | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
and the local flood groups to understand the latest flood | :22:11. | :22:13. | |
modelling results and identify the most appropriate options. But there | :22:14. | :22:17. | |
is a lot of work including ?3 million of additional government | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
funding to try and address the leads flood alleviation scheme. In west | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
Yorkshire, our bluelight services and those who represents rank and | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
file staff are clear that our emergency services are in crisis and | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
staff are struggling. West Yorkshire has lost more than 1200 police | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
officers since 2010 and 554 firefighters. It is no wonder my | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
constituents feel less safe. Given that we haven't had an opposition | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
day since January, will the Leader of the House allow government time | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
for this important debate before the summer recess? I refer the | :22:56. | :23:02. | |
honourable lady to what I said to her honourable friend. Crime is | :23:03. | :23:08. | |
down. This government has protected police funding. She may wish to | :23:09. | :23:16. | |
raise the specific issues from her constituency by applying for an | :23:17. | :23:18. | |
adjournment debate or a Westminster Hall debate. At the weekend, I | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
joined a group of volunteers from the heart of Hednesford group who | :23:25. | :23:30. | |
were planting hay racks on the platforms of the nearby rail station | :23:31. | :23:33. | |
to give passengers a colourful welcome to the town. Will my right | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
honourable friend join me in congratulating and thanking this | :23:39. | :23:41. | |
group of volunteers, but could we also have a debate in government | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
time about the role of volunteers and community groups in their local | :23:46. | :23:52. | |
communities? I am delighted to share in her congratulations to her | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
volunteers. We all appreciate the amazing work done by volunteers, | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
whether it is litter picking, planting flowers, supporting | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
vulnerable people and so on. We have frequent debates in this place on | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
the subject of volunteers. I encourage her to have a further want | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
to show our appreciation. Would the Leader of the House arrange for a | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
statement to clarify the position of who is responsible for dealing with | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
the increasing problem of urban foxes? This is something I have had | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
huge buzz of complaints about recently. It is an area where no one | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
takes responsibility. I am not suggesting the setting up of a | :24:35. | :24:40. | |
Vauxhall hunt! But I am looking to help those constituents who are | :24:41. | :24:43. | |
finding their lives not just intolerable in their homes, but what | :24:44. | :24:51. | |
can be done and who takes responsibility? The more time the | :24:52. | :25:01. | |
honourable lady is in her constituency, the more terrified the | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
foxes will be! I think they have a cheek, going to Vauxhall with the | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
honourable lady's views of foxes! Very brave of them. There are | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
obviously strict rules around dealing with wildlife in urban as | :25:16. | :25:18. | |
well as rural areas and keeping the fox population down is an important | :25:19. | :25:22. | |
issue. I suggest that she writes to the Secretary of State for Defra. | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
Gosh, just as we are talking about foxes, who should come into the | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
chamber but the Secretary of State for International Development! How | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
very timely. Given the number of terrorist acts carried out in the UK | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
by people who are prevented from going to the Middle East, may we | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
have a statement from an appropriate government minister setting out the | :25:47. | :25:52. | |
arguments for and against preventing would-be jihadists who are adults | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
from travelling abroad and keeping them at home when we know that they | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
cannot all be monitored at home around the clock? My honourable | :26:01. | :26:12. | |
friend raises an important issue. Approximately 850 UK linked | :26:13. | :26:14. | |
individuals of national security concern have travelled to engage | :26:15. | :26:18. | |
with the Syrian conflict. We think about half have returned to the UK | :26:19. | :26:23. | |
and over 15% have subsequently been killed in fighting in the region. | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
Our priority is of course to dissuade people from travelling to | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
areas of conflict and our Prevent strategy includes a lot of work to | :26:32. | :26:35. | |
support individuals at risk of radicalisation. This is clearly | :26:36. | :26:38. | |
something for the commission of countering extremism which is being | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
set up. And I am sure the foreign affairs select committee will also | :26:45. | :26:51. | |
be interested. The Leader of the House mentioned in her opening | :26:52. | :26:53. | |
remarks extremism. Will the Leader of the House make time available for | :26:54. | :26:59. | |
us to have a debate on the report into extremism and the funding of | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
extreme activity in the UK which has not yet been published by the | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
government? Members are entitled to know, for instance, whether it is | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
because there are many references to the activities of the Saudis in this | :27:16. | :27:19. | |
report. Can we have time for such a debate? The honourable gentleman | :27:20. | :27:26. | |
will appreciate that this is clearly something for the commission for | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
countering extremism. It will be looking at reports of what has gone | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
on already and they will be keen to take up. ChildLine, which is now | :27:35. | :27:43. | |
part of the NSPCC, was founded 30 years ago and over that time has | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
helped more than 4 million children. Can we have a debate about how the | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
government could work more closely with ChildLine and the NSPCC, | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
particularly in areas such as online abuse and children's mental health? | :27:56. | :28:02. | |
My honourable friend has been a huge advocate of the work that ChildLine | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
do and everybody across the House would want to congratulate them on | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
show appreciation for the excellent work they do. He will be aware that | :28:12. | :28:16. | |
teachers and school staff across the country have started training to be | :28:17. | :28:20. | |
able to identify and respond to early signs of mental health | :28:21. | :28:23. | |
problems among pupils, which is a very good thing. He may want to | :28:24. | :28:27. | |
expand on that discussion in applying for a debate. I would | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
encourage him to look at the early years infant mental health, which is | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
so important is that young people up with lifelong emotional well-being. | :28:39. | :28:46. | |
The M56 is the printable economic artery not just for West Cheshire, | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
but large parts of north Wales and continues to jam up regularly, at | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
which point all the roads around it jam up as well. Can we have a debate | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
on why the Reg Treasury has failed to find any investment for the M56 | :28:59. | :29:05. | |
in the last 20 years -- the road strategy has failed to find | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
investment. This government has significantly invested in roads and | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
continues to do so. If he has specific issue about the M56, I | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
encourage you to apply for an adjournment debate, but this | :29:19. | :29:21. | |
government is committed to improving on our infrastructure to get the | :29:22. | :29:24. | |
economy going and boost even more jobs for people in this country. | :29:25. | :29:32. | |
We share a strong interest in giving babies the best start in life. I am | :29:33. | :29:42. | |
greatly encouraged by the government 's's commitment to a mental health | :29:43. | :29:48. | |
Bill in the green's speech and particularly for the amendments to | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
an equalities Bill to reduce any discrimination against people with | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
mental ill-health. Can she give us a timeline for that legislation and | :29:59. | :30:04. | |
what it may cover, to promote perinatal mental health in giving | :30:05. | :30:06. | |
our children the very best start in mental health in their lives? I am | :30:07. | :30:13. | |
very grateful to him for raising that issue, very dear to his heart | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
and mind, giving babies the best start in life through secure early | :30:20. | :30:23. | |
bonding is absolutely vital, and I'm sure it will be part of our new | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
Mental Health Act that was mentioned in the Queen's speech, and that | :30:29. | :30:32. | |
there will be members right across the house keen to put forward their | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
views. That's timing will be decided in due course. After Home Office | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
questions on Monday, when the Home Secretary claimed police funding had | :30:44. | :30:47. | |
been protected, although it has not been on Merseyside, there was yet | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
another firearms discharge in my constituency. That makes over 100 | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
shootings across Merseyside in the last 18 months, involving five | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
murders. Can we have a debate about the increasing gun crime happening | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
across Merseyside, and what the government will do better to equip | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
our police to deal proactively with the serious threat to public safety | :31:10. | :31:16. | |
that it represents? She is exactly right to raise this issue, in her | :31:17. | :31:22. | |
constituency, it's very serious. She will be pleased to know that since | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
2010, there have been over 370,000 fewer violent crimes a year, but | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
that doesn't help at all, when in her constituency, there have been | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
many of them, and I do suggest she takes that up via a Westminster | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
adjournment debate. Could we have a debate on the accountability of | :31:45. | :31:50. | |
local councils? Taunton Deane council have given permission for | :31:51. | :31:55. | |
17,000 houses. One company alone has built up a multi-million pound land | :31:56. | :31:58. | |
bank on the assumption that the council will be giving them | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
permission. Could we please have the tightening of rules on that before | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
that is a serious situation, where councils are accused of all sorts of | :32:08. | :32:10. | |
things that I suspect they don't want to be. He raises an important | :32:11. | :32:16. | |
point, which is that housing needs to be sited in an appropriate place | :32:17. | :32:21. | |
and there needs to be clear and transparent rules around planning. | :32:22. | :32:24. | |
But there is a balance, because we desperately need to be building more | :32:25. | :32:31. | |
houses. We have a great record of building over 800,000 new homes | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
since 2010 in this country, which is a very good contribution. More needs | :32:36. | :32:40. | |
to be done. He may want to raise his specific point at the questions that | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
will happen before the end of this summer session. Further to the point | :32:46. | :32:52. | |
made just a moment ago, and in light of the recent terrorist attacks in | :32:53. | :32:56. | |
London and Manchester, and yesterday's report by the Henry | :32:57. | :33:01. | |
Jackson Society on foreign funding of extremism in the UK, can I ask | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
when the Prime Minister will either publish the report into the foreign | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
funding of terrorism that was commissioned when she was Home | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
Secretary, or make a statement to this house on foreign funding to | :33:15. | :33:21. | |
extremist groups in the UK? In answer, he will know that this is an | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
enormously important issue for the Prime Minister personally, and that | :33:28. | :33:30. | |
she has committed to doing everything possible to keep our | :33:31. | :33:37. | |
people safe. She is setting up the commission for countering extremism | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
and she is fully occupied in resolving this issue, so I'm sure he | :33:41. | :33:44. | |
can rely on the fact that she will be doing everything possible to | :33:45. | :33:48. | |
stamp out extremism in all its forms. One of the regular issues to | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
land in my inbox is litter and fly-tipping, and I'm sure it lands | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
in many other members' inboxes as well. Fly-tipping alone costs local | :34:01. | :34:08. | |
authorities in England ?49.8 million in 2015/2016, that's on top of the | :34:09. | :34:11. | |
cost of litter clean-ups. Family have a debate on more can be done, | :34:12. | :34:16. | |
how effective the enforcement of fly-tipping and Leicester is, and | :34:17. | :34:21. | |
how we can encourage members of the public to dispose of the litter and | :34:22. | :34:29. | |
waste properly? I'm very happy to encourage everybody to take their | :34:30. | :34:32. | |
litter home with them, but she is right, this cost of street cleaning | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
costs local government nearly ?800 million in 2015/ 2016. There's a | :34:39. | :34:44. | |
huge amount of money that could be better used to doing other things. I | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
was very pleased to launch our national litter strategy for | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
England, looking at the areas, enforcement, infrastructure for bins | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
and also education. That consultation has finished and there | :34:59. | :35:02. | |
will be further announcements coming forward very soon. Today is a sad | :35:03. | :35:11. | |
day for Glasgow politics, as this morning is the funeral of Councillor | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
Alistair Watson, whose life was celebrated in an early motion, a | :35:18. | :35:20. | |
gentleman to give 22 years of service to the communities of | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
Donald. I would like to send my condolences to his family and the | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
members of the Glasgow Labour family. I would like to share with | :35:30. | :35:42. | |
him in offering condolences to the family of the council that he | :35:43. | :35:45. | |
mentions. And there are, right across the country, people who | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
written many, many years of public service, trying to improve their own | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
local community or indeed, the country that they live in, and | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
that's absolutely vital to of us. I think he makes a very good points, | :35:59. | :36:03. | |
that we should have a debate to try and encourage more people to get | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
involved, but also to celebrate those who have, and I do encourage | :36:08. | :36:10. | |
him to apply for a debate on that subject. As Daesh have failed to do | :36:11. | :36:21. | |
love the caliphate, they grow more desperate. Maybe have an early | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
debate on the application of international law to bring | :36:26. | :36:29. | |
prosecution against Daesh fighters, those who choose to partner with | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
them and even marry them, to make sure that every terrorist is held | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
accountable for their barbaric crimes. We are very concerned about | :36:39. | :36:46. | |
the appalling crimes committed by Daesh against Christians and other | :36:47. | :36:52. | |
minorities, as well as against the majority Muslim population in Iraq | :36:53. | :36:58. | |
and Syria. Ultimately, the only way to stop the abuse is to defeat Daesh | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
and establish a long-term political settlement in Iraq and Syria. So we | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
continue to work closely with the government of Iraq and the United | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
Nations to do just that, but she should be reassured that any Daesh | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
supporters returning to the UK will face the whole force of the law. | :37:17. | :37:23. | |
Developers in London routinely use a variety of methods to aggressively | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
drive down levels of affordable housing. The recent Battersea Power | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
Station development being the most recent and high profile example. Can | :37:33. | :37:35. | |
we have a debate about what more needs to be done to make sure that | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
private development includes sufficient public gain an adequate | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
levels of affordable housing? We all share the desire to see more | :37:47. | :37:49. | |
affordable housing. There's a big commitment on the part of this | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
government. More than 300,000 new affordable homes have been built | :37:55. | :37:59. | |
since 2010. Of course, it is a matter for local planning | :38:00. | :38:02. | |
authorities to make sure that the right proportions are built in new | :38:03. | :38:10. | |
development. I heard what the Leader of the House said earlier about | :38:11. | :38:14. | |
student loans. While the original policy introduced by the Coalition | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
Government was widely supported and remains progressive, things have | :38:19. | :38:21. | |
changed slightly, because the level of interest at which both living | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
costs and studies will be repaid, rises to 6.1% this September, and | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
that, allied with compound interest over a 30 year period, is what gave | :38:31. | :38:37. | |
the IDF S in their reports yesterday the calculation of total debt being | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
?55,000. A number of us are very concerned about this. Could I urge | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
you to find government time for that debate, which the first Secretary of | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
State intimated he would like to see as well? Of all people, I think my | :38:52. | :38:58. | |
honourable friend would recognise that student finance is not like a | :38:59. | :39:06. | |
normal commercial loan. The taxpayer contributes significantly still to | :39:07. | :39:09. | |
the cost of higher education for university students, and it's right | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
that those who will benefit from the higher earnings attractive | :39:15. | :39:17. | |
undergraduate rules should contribute to that cost. However, I | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
think the mood of many colleagues has been heard, and I'm quite sure | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
at the Department for Education are considering this. Gun and knife | :39:28. | :39:35. | |
crime is up across London, and this month marks the two-year anniversary | :39:36. | :39:41. | |
of the high-profile trial by mistaken identity shooting in Wood | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
Green. And despite a number of representations, this homicide | :39:47. | :39:50. | |
remains unsolved. Could we have a debate in government time around | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
resources, particularly for London boroughs, where there is this | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
increase in gun and knife crime, and in the light of Grenfell Tower, | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
where 200 officers have now been moved over to the important work, | :40:04. | :40:08. | |
that we can still rely on the fact that there will be enough detectives | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
working to solve what is now a two-year-old crime? I do think it's | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
very important to be clear that there are of course pockets, and | :40:19. | :40:21. | |
there are terrible incidents that take place, and this sounds like a | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
really awful experience in her constituency. But nevertheless, | :40:28. | :40:31. | |
there are 370,000 fewer violent crimes since 2010, I do think it's | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
important we speak in measured terms, because it's very easy to | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
scare people into thinking things are getting worse when they are | :40:41. | :40:43. | |
getting better. It has been made very clear that police funding has | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
been protected, but the police themselves are changing the way they | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
manage things operationally to put more money into cyber policing and | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
dealing with online crime and into counterintelligence and so on. | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
Nevertheless, she may wish to raise the specific issues in her | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
constituency through an adjournment debate. She may be aware of the | :41:06. | :41:12. | |
problems which writing schools up and down the country are having with | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
the valuation office agency and their valuations ascribed to their | :41:19. | :41:21. | |
premises. Some are now closing because of this, and this will | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
undoubtedly have an effect on writing for the disabled. Could we | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
have a debate on the subject, and perhaps she could raise it with her | :41:32. | :41:38. | |
colleague in the cabinets? I'm very much aware of the issue for riding | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
schools and other large premises in rural areas with rates. He may know | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
that as part of the package of support lunched at the budget, the | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
Chancellor announced a ?300 million discretionary relief funds to 2018 | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
so that local authorities could provide additional support to local | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
businesses. I encourage him to suggest his constituents that they | :42:05. | :42:07. | |
apply to the local council to see whether they are eligible for this | :42:08. | :42:15. | |
discretionary relief. Following the revelation contained in the | :42:16. | :42:22. | |
independent audit on loans to state owned companies in Mozambique, those | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
loans are now falling on the shoulder of any man, woman and child | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
in the country. What measures are the UK Government considering to | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
make sure that loans given to governments are transparent? The | :42:38. | :42:43. | |
issue of transparency in government loans and indeed in overseas aid, is | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
very important to the government. There are Foreign Office questions | :42:49. | :42:51. | |
next week, I believe, and he will wish to raise that they are, I'm | :42:52. | :42:58. | |
sure. There is some concern about broadcast media's coverage of the | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
Brexit negotiations. You may have to watch Newsnight from last night to | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
see why. One of my constituents has e-mailed me to say, I need to know | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
whether I made the right decision, but the mainstream media just do not | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
cover EU developments. Good the minister come to the dispatch box | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
and justified that the BBC is continuing to comply with its Royal | :43:21. | :43:26. | |
Charter? I think what we all want to see is balance in reporting. And | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
giving as much time to the opportunities of leaving the EU as | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
is given to the other side of the argument. I think a number of people | :43:38. | :43:43. | |
expressed concerns that the balance isn't there. All of us across this | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
house would wish to see that very closely. Will the Leader of the | :43:48. | :43:54. | |
House provide temporary debate on local government funding. Kirklees | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
Council, which covers my constituency, is losing ?1 million a | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
week. Services are close to breaking point, with vulnerable people | :44:04. | :44:07. | |
suffering the most. As the Cabinet now seem to be conducting a debate | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
on a story ditty in the tabloid front pages, could we also have one | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
in this house? I would remind her that it is this government that is | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
sorting out our public finances. It is under this government that we | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
have seen employment up by 2.9 million people. Over 800,000 fewer | :44:29. | :44:37. | |
workless households. A pay rise by 30 million people through income tax | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
cuts. Basic rate tax payers are ?1000 a year better off under this | :44:43. | :44:45. | |
government, so to suggest everything is falling apart is simply not true. | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
Opposition members need to stop scaremongering. And I do urge her to | :44:52. | :44:54. | |
look at the facts. Hamble lane, Eastleigh town centre | :44:55. | :45:07. | |
and Berkeley sent to leave consistent queues and jams on the | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
resultant air pollution which remains a key concern for my | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
constituents, particularly parents of children with asthma. Will the | :45:16. | :45:21. | |
Leader of the House can define time for a debate on air pollution so | :45:22. | :45:24. | |
that we can tackle and really talk about this growing public health | :45:25. | :45:33. | |
concern? Air quality is a serious public health issue, as she is right | :45:34. | :45:36. | |
to point out that one of the major links is to asthma and that is a | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
serious condition in itself. The honourable lady will have many | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
opportunities to raise this in the future, when we have the judgment | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
from the High Court and when our proposals from our consultation are | :45:54. | :46:01. | |
published later in the summer. 200 staff were let go on Sunday. There | :46:02. | :46:04. | |
were supposed to be working at a Green Day concert which was | :46:05. | :46:08. | |
cancelled at short notice by the promoters. And they were only | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
offered their bus fare by their employer. Can we have a debate on | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
contracts and workers' rights, and does she agree in this case that | :46:20. | :46:23. | |
clearly, these workers have been exploited and that is unacceptable? | :46:24. | :46:29. | |
I certainly agree that that does not sound acceptable if it is the case. | :46:30. | :46:37. | |
On the wider point about zero hours contracts, there has been a lot of | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
discussion in this House about the measures this government has taken | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
to stamp out abuse of those contracts. It is the fact that for | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
many people, they are content with their zero hours contracts and it | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
works for them. So the honourable lady raises an important specific | :46:58. | :47:01. | |
point, but the broader point has been well debated across this | :47:02. | :47:11. | |
chamber. Some travel camps in Dudley have left behind them criminal | :47:12. | :47:14. | |
damage and large clean-up bills for council tax payers. Could we have a | :47:15. | :47:18. | |
debate on the use of police powers to remove illegal camps and also on | :47:19. | :47:26. | |
proposals to allow combined authorities to pull provision for | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
authorised travellers' sites, rather than insisting that each local | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
authority has their own provision? My honourable friend raises a | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
subject that has already been raised that every business questions so | :47:42. | :47:45. | |
far, which highlights what an important issue this is for every | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
member of Parliament. Local authorities and the police have a | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
wide range of powers to help them take action, including being able to | :47:58. | :48:00. | |
direct trespassers to leave the land, removing any vehicles and | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
property from the land when there is a suitable pitch elsewhere in that | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
authority area. I hear his point about pooling local authority | :48:10. | :48:12. | |
resources. That is not something that is currently able to be done, | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
but it is something he may wish to raise directly with ministers. Could | :48:17. | :48:23. | |
I also raise with the Leader of the House the question of the need for a | :48:24. | :48:30. | |
debate on illegal encampment is? In South Birmingham, the past few | :48:31. | :48:33. | |
months have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of those | :48:34. | :48:35. | |
encampments in their scale and frequency, often with public concern | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
made worse by the anti-social behaviour associated with them and | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
the level of mess that is left behind. Often, they will leave one | :48:44. | :48:51. | |
place and be evicted, only to reappear down the road. So we need | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
an early debate. We should review the status of the existing powers, | :48:58. | :49:04. | |
review where best practice can be applied and if the powers that are | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
available need further review, to set the ball rolling. Could we have | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
short questions in order to get everybody in? I do not want to miss | :49:13. | :49:15. | |
anyone out. Everybody has been standing. I say to the honourable | :49:16. | :49:23. | |
gentleman again, there are already strong police powers. There are | :49:24. | :49:29. | |
occasionally issues with enforcement, but where travellers | :49:30. | :49:32. | |
fail to comply with a police direction, it is a criminal offence | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
which is punishable by up to six months imprisonment. So is re-entry | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
onto land by a person that is subject to that direction within | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
three months afterwards. He should be aware that 84% of traveller | :49:46. | :49:50. | |
caravans are now on authorised land compared to 77% in 2007. The | :49:51. | :49:55. | |
government is committed to reducing the number of unauthorised sites by | :49:56. | :49:58. | |
making sure there is reasonable provision for travellers that takes | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
account of their cultural requirements to enable them to avoid | :50:05. | :50:12. | |
being on unauthorised sites. The rugby club in Brecon and Radnorshire | :50:13. | :50:19. | |
recently completed a sponsored bike ride in Wales, raising ?45,000 | :50:20. | :50:22. | |
towards the cost of purchasing their rugby pitches from the local | :50:23. | :50:25. | |
authority. Would my right honourable friend join me in congratulating all | :50:26. | :50:31. | |
of the town on this outstanding achievement and also allow a debate | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
on what more could be done to transfer assets to local community | :50:36. | :50:41. | |
groups without exceptionally high costs to those groups? I certainly | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
congratulate all of those involved. That is an impressive sum for a | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
sponsored bike ride. If he was involved, I commend him for that. As | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
he will know, responsibility for grass-roots sport is devolved in | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
Wales. Sport Wales are the organisation with responsibility for | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
investing in and supporting grassroots sport. Sport England this | :51:05. | :51:07. | |
year have launched a community asset fund worth up to ?15 million. He | :51:08. | :51:11. | |
might want to talk to sport Wales about whether they have any similar | :51:12. | :51:18. | |
schemes. I know the Leader of the House likes to be patriotic, like | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
many of us, and used our national carrier airline, British Airways. | :51:24. | :51:27. | |
But can we have a debate about the shameful way they are treating their | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
cabin crew and the fact that the government has given permission to | :51:33. | :51:36. | |
British Airways to do a wet lease, ie the planes on the stuff of cat | :51:37. | :51:40. | |
are Airways, in order to keep flights going during the current | :51:41. | :51:44. | |
industrial dispute, despite the terrible record that airline has | :51:45. | :51:47. | |
with its female worker -- Qatar Airways? The honourable gentleman | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
raises an important point about workers' rights. He will know that a | :51:53. | :51:58. | |
good opportunity to raise that would be through applying for a debate in | :51:59. | :52:01. | |
Westminster Hall or for an adjournment debate. However, it is | :52:02. | :52:07. | |
important in all industrial disputes that the considerations for | :52:08. | :52:09. | |
passengers are also taking into account. I am sure he would agree | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
that that would be the right balance in all disputes. I welcome the | :52:14. | :52:22. | |
government's commitment to expanding investment in our road networks such | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
as the A303 in my constituency. I wonder if we could find time for a | :52:29. | :52:34. | |
debate on how we can capitalise on that investment to deliver jobs, | :52:35. | :52:40. | |
housing and skills development in association with that? My honourable | :52:41. | :52:47. | |
friend is a great champion for his constituency and having spent many | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
hours queueing patiently on the A303, I can understand his desire to | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
see it upgraded. And also for the jobs and growth that new | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
infrastructure brings in every constituency. It is something this | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
government is committed to, with new investment in capital infrastructure | :53:07. | :53:09. | |
spending. He may well wish to raise that through the usual channels to | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
give all colleagues the opportunity to talk about the work this | :53:17. | :53:18. | |
government is doing to build the economy. The Leader of the House | :53:19. | :53:25. | |
will have heard, I hope, my question to the Prime Minister yesterday | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
about my constituent and her daughter who is under threat of FGM. | :53:30. | :53:38. | |
Unfortunately, the Prime Minister's reply was almost as bad as the | :53:39. | :53:40. | |
letters I have had from the Home Office. Can we have a debate on the | :53:41. | :53:44. | |
processes of the Home Office and the measures that are in place to | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
protect women suffering from domestic violence on women and girls | :53:49. | :53:56. | |
under the threat of FGM? There is nobody in this House would for a | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
moment condone or have anything other than disgust and abhorrence at | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
the whole subject of FGM. It is an appalling abuse of young girls and | :54:06. | :54:13. | |
women and nobody would condone it. This government has made a huge | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
effort to try and stamp out FGM. It is extraordinarily difficult, but we | :54:18. | :54:24. | |
are getting breakthroughs. At least through her question today, we can | :54:25. | :54:27. | |
highlight again the plight of those suffering this appalling abuse. The | :54:28. | :54:32. | |
honourable lady raises a constituency point and I urge her to | :54:33. | :54:36. | |
raise that in Home Office questions or to continue to raise it in PMQs. | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
She has the support of the whole House in seeing this stamped out. | :54:42. | :54:48. | |
Colin Smith received contaminated blood in 1983 when he was just eight | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
months old. That blood turned out to be from Arkansas prison and he died | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
aged just seven, his whole life spent fighting illness. So for | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
Colin's family and all those affected, can we have an opportunity | :55:03. | :55:06. | |
before recess to debate the new reports that suggest that risks of | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
contaminated blood were known from 1980? Those affected need a public | :55:13. | :55:22. | |
inquiry to get to the truth. I agree that the contaminated blood | :55:23. | :55:25. | |
situation over several decades, affecting people in so many ways, | :55:26. | :55:32. | |
was a terrible thing to happen. She will appreciate that successive | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
governments over decades have reviewed the situation and made | :55:39. | :55:40. | |
compensation available to the victims. I am aware that the last | :55:41. | :55:47. | |
review in 2015 has made further recommendations and that there are | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
concerns about the possibility that there was some cover-up. I encourage | :55:52. | :55:55. | |
the honourable lady to seek an opportunity for a debate to try and | :55:56. | :56:03. | |
air that issue further. As we have already heard, the broken business | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
rate system is so judgmental to business and is frankly a shambles. | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
In fact, this is echoed in businesses across Europe including | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
those trading in the shambles Luke Shambles. Can we have the | :56:16. | :56:24. | |
consultation brought to this house? We were promised this in February | :56:25. | :56:28. | |
and has not seen the light of day, so I would like to know why not. The | :56:29. | :56:34. | |
honourable lady will know that rateable values are set | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
independently by the VOA and reflect open market rental value. The | :56:41. | :56:45. | |
government doesn't intervene in the independent exercise, but I | :56:46. | :56:47. | |
understand that if the market rent for the area has changed, then | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
rateable values change with them. She will be aware that the | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
Chancellor announced a ?300 million discretionary fund over four years | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
from 2017-18 to deal with issues of rates changing for particular | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
businesses. That has been made available to local authorities so | :57:08. | :57:11. | |
that at their discretion, they can support individual businesses with | :57:12. | :57:19. | |
their issues. The companies and markets page of the Financial Times | :57:20. | :57:24. | |
had an article this Monday talking about how investment in the car | :57:25. | :57:27. | |
industry has slumped amidst Brexit concerns. This was raised with me | :57:28. | :57:32. | |
numerous times during the election, as I have a large Ford plant in my | :57:33. | :57:37. | |
constituency. What is clear from the article and the experience of Ford | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
workers is that new investment is not coming into the plant. It has | :57:42. | :57:47. | |
slumped by 30% across the UK. The Association of automotive traders | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
and manufacturers have said that it would be a devastating impact and | :57:52. | :57:59. | |
permanent damage to the UK car industry if, when the UK leads the | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
customs union and the single market, this is not addressed. Can we have | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
an impact on the impact of Brexit on the automotive industry? The | :58:09. | :58:13. | |
honourable lady raises an important issue for her constituency. The UK | :58:14. | :58:20. | |
has a thriving automotive industry and I am sure she will be delighted | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
that we are bringing forward measures to support electric | :58:25. | :58:28. | |
vehicles and be a world leader in that area. She may also be pleased | :58:29. | :58:34. | |
to know that the department for industry and trade figures released | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
today show a record-breaking number of foreign direct investment | :58:39. | :58:43. | |
projects coming into the UK, up 2% on 2015-16. So the direction is in | :58:44. | :58:49. | |
the right place. But she may wish to raise specific issues for Ford in | :58:50. | :58:53. | |
her constituency through a Westminster Hall debate. Before 2015 | :58:54. | :59:02. | |
general election, Chancellor Osborne made a commitment with the residents | :59:03. | :59:10. | |
of Warrington that the Runcorn Bridge would be toll-free. Earlier | :59:11. | :59:13. | |
this year, the junior transport minister broke that promise. Can I | :59:14. | :59:18. | |
request that the Leader of the House arrange for the Secretary of State | :59:19. | :59:21. | |
for Transport to come here and make a statement and inform when the | :59:22. | :59:24. | |
government will announce that they will keep the promise, or arrange a | :59:25. | :59:30. | |
debate? This issue is affecting the whole region. The honourable | :59:31. | :59:39. | |
gentleman raises an important point for his constituency. He will be | :59:40. | :59:42. | |
pleased to know that transport questions are on Thursday the 13th | :59:43. | :59:46. | |
of July and I am sure he will be able to raise that with ministers | :59:47. | :59:47. | |
then. Can be heavy debate on Home Office | :59:48. | :59:57. | |
intransigence? Ten Minister come to the size and explain why, despite | :59:58. | :00:02. | |
following Home Office advice in submitting his application for leave | :00:03. | :00:05. | |
to remain, my constituents and his wife have been stripped of their | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
status, forced to quit their jobs and let their children, British | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
citizens, destitute. Can we have an urgent debate on review of Home | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
Office procedures that leaves many vulnerable and in desperate | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
situations? He raises a very concerning case in his own | :00:23. | :00:25. | |
constituency and I'm sure he will want to raise that Adalat oral | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
questions to the Home Office or through writing to ministers, but as | :00:29. | :00:36. | |
we all know, there is an MPs hotline and they do deal with as matter of | :00:37. | :00:42. | |
priority with MPs' cases, so he might want to take that up with | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
them. In 2015, the government promised not to sell HMS Ocean and | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
not to close a barracks in Plymouth. The helicopter carrier and both | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
pieces are no Brasil. Local region agreed to debate on base closures | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
and how we maintain helicopter capability at Devonport? I welcome | :01:03. | :01:10. | |
him and wish him success. He is using something dear to all our | :01:11. | :01:15. | |
hearts, which is the fortunes of our military, whether Royal Navy, royal | :01:16. | :01:20. | |
air force or the Army. Sadly, I feel his views are not shared by many on | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
his side of the house, who argue against protecting our citizens, but | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
nevertheless, his point has been heard and I am sure he will be | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
raising it with ministers whenever he can. It has been common practice | :01:34. | :01:44. | |
in the NHS for employees to be required to repay redundancy | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
payments if they secure another job in the health service within a | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
certain period of time, so given the fact that several members who lost | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
their seats at the last election have now taken up page rules as | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
government advisers, will use set aside time for a debate on whether | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
it's appropriate for members to receive redundancy payments and then | :02:06. | :02:14. | |
take up a page role as an adviser? Sheep shouts from a sedentary | :02:15. | :02:21. | |
position, named names! My concern has been that members who lost their | :02:22. | :02:24. | |
seats, particularly this time around, have actually struggled in | :02:25. | :02:33. | |
some cases, genuinely struggled. With an ability to feed into the | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
policies for members' pay and expenses, he raises an important | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
point, but I think he will find that members across the house are | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
concerned that members who loses seats are not being fairly treated, | :02:46. | :02:53. | |
quite the opposite to that point. I'm remember a sample size of the | :02:54. | :03:00. | |
house will want to wish a happy 69th birthday to the NHS, which clocked | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
up the milestone yesterday. But local provision seems to be less | :03:05. | :03:12. | |
healthy. We have lost to A and if this continues, there will be hardly | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
any beds left. Can we have a debate on this cherished Labour created | :03:20. | :03:28. | |
institution? She will know that this government is totally committed to | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
the NHS and is funding it to a far greater extent than the Labour | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
Party's on manifesto would have pledged. Under this government, we | :03:38. | :03:45. | |
have seen millions more operations, A visits, we have seen enormous | :03:46. | :03:52. | |
strides forward in medical science, in technology, that enables people | :03:53. | :03:56. | |
to have far better treatments. The Commonwealth fund says the NHS is | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
one of the best health services in the world. We are absolutely | :04:00. | :04:07. | |
committed to the success of the NHS on this side of the house and I | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
think all members should really do more to support the excellent work | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
of our NHS staff, who do so much to support all of us. The shadow Leader | :04:17. | :04:24. | |
of the House and other honourable members have raised very important | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
question is, why has there not been an opposition day since the 25th of | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
January? Given the scarcity of substantive government business, | :04:36. | :04:39. | |
given the huge red issues raised on these benches, why is the leader of | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
the highest refusing to schedule one for the summer recess? Why does she | :04:44. | :04:53. | |
want to commit to one now? I can say that there are standing orders | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
around opposition day, sitting Fridays and back bench business | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
days. The government, through the usual channels, is working on | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
setting out those days and the house will be informed as soon as | :05:07. | :05:07. | |
possible. Last week, I mentioned just a few of | :05:08. | :05:22. | |
the failings in the Scottish Secretary of State and I challenged | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
the Leader of the House to list some of his achievements. She said that | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
he has spoken up for energy in Scotland and he's been an enormous | :05:30. | :05:36. | |
advocate for Scottish agriculture. When the government pulled the plug | :05:37. | :05:44. | |
on carbon capture storage and renewables, and the government has | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
withheld nearly ?2 million of EU funding meant for Scottish farmers, | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
given that is his achievements, is there any other outstanding | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
achievements she colours that makes my point for me that he is not | :05:58. | :06:05. | |
standing up for Scotland? That is at nonsense and not worthy of the | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
honourable gentleman. Would you like to mention the Secretary of State | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
for Scotland's support for the oil and gas sector in Scotland, where he | :06:15. | :06:19. | |
gave hours and hours of permitted time to discuss a package of fiscal | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
relief to support the oil and gas sector in Scotland? The hours he | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
spent working with me as an energy Minster, so I know very well what he | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
did, working on a supply chain to give Scottish fabrication yards the | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
chance to the parts of the wind sector, which this government has | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
supported. We have half of the world's offshore wind turbines. He | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
not mentioning any of the Roses. This is their petty and spiteful act | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
of an opposition should be ashamed of itself. The Secretary of State | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
has spoken up at every opportunity for the people of Scotland. In the | :06:57. | :07:05. | |
last Parliament, the Public Accounts Committee and a number of | :07:06. | :07:08. | |
constituency members of all parliaments raised concerns about | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
the HMR see State reorganisation. It appears major contracts were signed | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
while this House was dissolved in that appears to fly in the face of | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
official guidance to the civil servants about not making big | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
decisions about commercial contracts during that time. Would you look | :07:26. | :07:33. | |
into this and make sure that a minister reports back, and given | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
that the HMR see is not led by a minister, would she also grabbed a | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
debate so that we can raise our concerns very directly? If she would | :07:43. | :07:51. | |
like to raise specific issues about process for each MRC, I will | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
certainly take them forward for her, but I would like to use this | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
opportunity to point out that since 2010, each MRC has secured ?150 | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
billion for this country in additional compliance revenues, as a | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
result of their work to tackle tax avoidance. In 2016 alone, HMRC | :08:14. | :08:21. | |
collected record revenues of ?26.5 billion for compliance activities. | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
We've secured nearly 3 billion from offshore tax evaders. And in total, | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
an additional 2.5 billion from the very wealthiest since 2010. So if | :08:31. | :08:35. | |
she or anyone else in the chamber would like to praise HMRC for their | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
contribution to sorting out our economy and getting it back to | :08:40. | :08:42. | |
living within our means, then I'd be delighted to hear it. Earlier, the | :08:43. | :08:54. | |
honourable member for Ealing Central and actor described the NHS as the | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
Leeper institution. It is not a political institution, it does not | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
belong to any party. There are members on all sides of this house | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
who have served the NHS as we have the armed forces and other public | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
services. If she was still in this place I would ask her to withdraw | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
it. And therefore be in order to ask you that could be withdrawn? Your | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
view is on the record and it is a point of order for the chair. We now | :09:25. | :09:30. | |
come to the general debate relating to exiting the European Union and | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
global trade. Secretary of State to move, Liam Fox. Thank you. This is | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
an important debate, not only because it is our first full debate | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
on global Britain, but because this debate was originally timetabled for | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
the day on which the tragic terrorist attack on Westminster | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
Bridge took place, and for all of us in this House, our thoughts are as | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
ever with the families of those who were killed and injured, and none of | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
us will ever forget the outstanding bravery of the emergency services | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
and all those who restored order and worked tirelessly to keep us safe at | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
all times. We stand at the vital juncture for this country, ready to | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
write a new chapter in his today. As we begin the process of withdrawing | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
from the EU, the government has promised we will hold a series of | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
debates to allow this House to have a say on the future of the UK. I | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
welcome that commitment and look forward to members from both sides | :10:37. | :10:39. | |
of the House to engage with our proposals. The Department for | :10:40. | :10:45. | |
International Trade was created as a result of the change of government | :10:46. | :10:48. | |
that followed this country's votes to leave the EU in June last year. | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
It has enabled us to take a fresh look at our national approach to | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
trade and investment. Trade is vitally important to the economic | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
well-being of our country, and as we leave the EU, we'll be able to sheep | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
trade policy according to our own national interests. I believe that | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
leaving the EU represents an unprecedented opportunity for the | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
UK. The EU Commission was Mac own website on trade states that 90% of | :11:18. | :11:21. | |
global growth in the next 20 years will come from outside Europe. As | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
one of the world's largest economies, we have the chance to | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
work with old and new partners to build a truly global Britain at the | :11:31. | :11:32. | |
heart of international trade. We will support the conclusion of all | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
that ongoing freedom trade negotiations while we are still | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
members and seek to transition may adopt all those existing third-party | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
agreements before we leave. As the Prime Minister has said, we want a | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
deep and special partnership with the EU as we negotiate our own exit. | :11:52. | :11:56. | |
The Department for International Trade will be making sure that the | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
promotion of British goods and services abroad is promoted, while | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
continuing to keep the UK as a top destination for UK investment -- | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
internal investment. As I indicated to the house earlier this day, | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
figures published this morning should record foreign direct | :12:17. | :12:23. | |
investment into the UK in 2016/2017, proving beyond doubt that Britain | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
has the necessary economic essentials to attract investment. | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
Free trade increases consumer choice, raises standard of living | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
and makes wages go further, as global competition drives down | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
prices on every day goods, a point comeback tour later. In our task, | :12:48. | :12:56. | |
our own history is on our side. We were the trade capital of the world. | :12:57. | :13:05. | |
I share his optimism about the future of our country once we leave | :13:06. | :13:10. | |
the EU. Does he agree with me and witty breaks the myth, that somehow | :13:11. | :13:17. | |
we need trade deals to trade? Of course, trade steels are important, | :13:18. | :13:20. | |
but we can trade without trade deals. I would differentiate between | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
trade deals and trade rules. Of course, we need trade rules | :13:28. | :13:30. | |
governing the global environment, which is why we are committed to the | :13:31. | :13:35. | |
World Trade Organisation, but we don't need agreements to treat. | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
There are lots of other ways in which it is regulated. There are a | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
number of tools that we can use in the way that we shape the global | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
trading environment. She is quite right in that. I give way to my | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
honourable friend. Further to that question, and he is quite right, | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
even if there is no free trade deal, we'll be no worse off than the USA | :14:02. | :14:09. | |
or Japan. I'm sure the Secretary of State can confirm that we are | :14:10. | :14:12. | |
leaving the EU and the single market, but there was some doubt and | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
comment about our state is inside the customs union. I'm sure my right | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
honourable friend is happy to confirm today that we are leaving | :14:21. | :14:22. | |
the customs union. Our manifesto talked about when we | :14:23. | :14:31. | |
had left the customs union. That was the basis of which I was elected. | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
Most of us in this House and according to polls, most of us in | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
this country believe in the principles of free trade and the | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
benefits it brings. Yet in the world today, free trade is in need of a | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
champion. For the first time in decades, the established order of | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
fair, free and open global commerce which has done so much to enrich and | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
empower the world's nations is under threat. In April, the World Trade | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
Organisation noted that in 2016, world trade in goods grew by only | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
1.3%, the first time since 2001 that trade grew more slowly than GDP. Yet | :15:08. | :15:15. | |
this threat to growth and prosperity is going largely unrecognised. | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
Globally, there are signs of an increasing tendency towards | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
protectionism. Barriers to trade are going up across the world and a | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
particularly worrying report by the WTO highlighted the acceleration in | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
protectionist measures since the 2008 financial crash. Some of the | :15:32. | :15:38. | |
worst culprits in this are the countries of the G7 and G20. Those | :15:39. | :15:44. | |
nations, including our own, who have gained the most from free trade, are | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
at risk of forgetting our and principles. And yet protectionism | :15:49. | :15:53. | |
hurts those it purports to help. This is especially important as the | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
expansion of global production chains which sees goods across | :15:58. | :15:59. | |
multiple borders before a final product is made means the barriers | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
on imports damage a nation's exports. The right honourable | :16:04. | :16:13. | |
gentleman speaks about the customs union, but does he not share my | :16:14. | :16:16. | |
concern and the concern of the Scottish whiskey industry as we met | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
for the first time last night, and I should declare an interest as the | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
secretary of the APPG, that the customs processes as they stand are | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
creaking under pressure. They are being transformed through a new | :16:32. | :16:36. | |
digital process, but they are not confident that they will be able to | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
manage the process of Brexit. What guarantees can he give to that | :16:43. | :16:46. | |
industry that they will be solved? The honourable lady raises a fair | :16:47. | :16:52. | |
point about global trade facilitation. We have just signed | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
the trade facilitation agreement which aims to reduce border friction | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
across the world. It is estimated that that is worth 70 billion in the | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
global economy. One of the biggest barriers facing Scotch whiskey, is | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
tariff barriers, and the department has been trying to talk to | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
governments such as India, who have high tariffs against Scotch whiskey, | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
which is not good for their own consumers because it encourages an | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
illicit trade. I would encourage all those governments, as I do myself, | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
to indulge liberally in the pleasures of single malt. Martin | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
Deputy Speaker, by 2010 my G7 and G20 countries were admitted to the | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
operating some 300 nontariff barriers to trade. By 2015, this had | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
mushroomed to over 1200. Having accrued great wealth, there honour | :17:47. | :17:48. | |
those who would pull up the drawbridge behind them and we cannot | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
let this happen. This country's own commitment to free trade was most | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
clearly illustrated by the repeal of the corn laws of 1846. The | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, rightly saw this | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
protectionism as an attempt to preserve the wealth of a privileged | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
few at the expense of the many. And import tariffs were all but | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
abolished and Britain's free trade principles were created to put bread | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
into the mouths of the hungry majority. Now as then, it is free | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
trade and competition that will do most to address inequality and | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
safeguard the interests of working people. More than ever, it is up to | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
those nations who possessed the economic and diplomatic means to | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
reassert the rationale of free trade to do so. I thank the honourable | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
friend for his powerful and optimistic speech on free trade. In | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
terms of reducing protectionism, does he agree that leaving the | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
customs union will give us the ability to reduce import tariffs on | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
many goods we do not produce at home which will reduce costs for working | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
families and benefit many developing countries, helping them trading to | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
prosperity? That is an important point. At this morning's trick | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
questions, we made the argument that the freedoms we will have is to help | :19:09. | :19:17. | |
developing countries is something which currently cannot do. We have | :19:18. | :19:19. | |
to encourage poorer countries to trade their way out of poverty and | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
become less dependent on international aid programmes. That | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
is something I don't think would be a party political issue. The | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
question is how to achieve it in practice. In terms of the progress | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
that had been made, we have reduced poverty levels to their lowest in | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
history. As the world's emerging economies have liberalised trade | :19:44. | :19:45. | |
practices, prosperity has spread across the globe, bringing industry, | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
jobs and wealth where once there was only depression. According to the | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
World Bank, the three decades between 1981 and 2011 witness to the | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
single greatest decrease in material deprivation in human history. It is | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
a remarkable achievement. The Leader of the House has accused the Prime | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
Minister -- the Leader of the Opposition has accused the Prime | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
Minister of following "Free-trade dogma" at the expense of the world's | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
most fragile economies. In fact, an economist worth their salt can see | :20:17. | :20:19. | |
the free trade has been one of the most potent liberators of the | :20:20. | :20:26. | |
world's poor. Take India. In 1993, 40 5% of India's population sat | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
below the poverty line as defined by the World Bank. By 2011, it was 22%. | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
Too many, but a phenomenal achievement. It is no coincidence | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
that the in the intervening period, India embraced globalisation and | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
started to liberalise its economy. It is hard to imagine an | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
international aid programme, even one as generous as our own, that | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
would or could ever have been so effective on its own. It's also | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
sadly easy to find examples where a lack of free trade has harmed the | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
most vulnerable. If you want to see the contrasting results of open and | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
closed economies, then look across from China to the Korean peninsula, | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
where so much attention is focused today. In 1945, both North and South | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
Korea began from a very similar base. But while South Korea was more | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
embracing of open trade and free markets despite any shortcomings, | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
Pyongyang turned inwards, with the tragic consequences for its citizens | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
that we see to this day. I am happy to give way to the honourable lady | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
if she thinks that North and South Korea enjoy the same living | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
standards today. Of course what the honourable gentleman says about the | :21:42. | :21:43. | |
situation in those countries today is right. But the point I was | :21:44. | :21:53. | |
chuntering about was that what the honourable gentleman says is not | :21:54. | :22:00. | |
what was happening in South Korea in the 1960s and 1970s. And a lot of | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
the south-east Asian economies did have protection in those two decades | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
in order to modernise and build-up. I accept what the honourable lady | :22:10. | :22:12. | |
has said, but that was why I chose my words and said South Korea was | :22:13. | :22:17. | |
more embracing of free trade and open markets and despite the | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
shortcomings, they nonetheless created a better standard of living | :22:21. | :22:23. | |
for their people. Seoul is now at the heart of a thriving economy and | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
incidentally, a dynamic democracy, where freedom and prosperity are | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
shared amongst its people. It should come as no surprise that while 80% | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
of South Koreans have access to the internet, less than 0.1% of North | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
Koreans enjoy the same. And perhaps most tragically, there is a greater | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
than 10-year discrepancy in the life expectancy of those north and south | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
of the demilitarised zone. That is why we recognise that trade and | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
development for my fundamental and synergistic partnership. Trade | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
flourishes where there are high levels of education, developed | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
financial sectors and importantly, sound government and minimal | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
corruption. There is still much to do, but it is a direction of travel | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
that we would be both foolish and irresponsible to abandon. An open | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
and free trading system is part of a global and national prosperity | :23:21. | :23:26. | |
agenda. As always, he presents a powerful case for free trade, but | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
does he not agree with me that sometimes, there is too narrow a | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
vision of this? We tend to think about free trade in goods because | :23:35. | :23:36. | |
they are visible, and we talk about the problems and the opportunities | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
there. But we forget about the free trade in services, and services are | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
by far the largest part of what the UK has to offer the rest the world. | :23:46. | :23:52. | |
My friend an excellent and key point. What we actually require to | :23:53. | :23:59. | |
get the global economy moving is a major liberalisation of services in | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
the way we had liberalisation of goods as the focus of the Uruguay | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
round. One of the elements that comes from that is that countries | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
like the UK, where 80% of our economy is service driven, are less | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
dependent on being part of a geographical block for trade. When | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
it comes to trade and services, what matters is that we are trading with | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
countries which are functionally similar rather than geographically | :24:27. | :24:29. | |
proximate. That is the changing globalisation that we would do well | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
to understand in the debate we are having as we leave the European | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
Union. Madame Deputy Speaker, it is not just about raising living | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
standards in developing and developed countries. I think there | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
is an even more compelling case for free trade. For the prosperity that | :24:47. | :24:54. | |
it can create is in turn the basis of a social stability that in turn | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
underpins political stability, and we have seen that around the world. | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
And that political stability in its turn underpins our security. In | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
other words, they are all part of the same continuum and you cannot | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
disrupt one element without disrupting the whole, which is why | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
governments of both colours in this country have tended to see | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
development, prosperity and security as a single policy objective. It is | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
a truth that we need to understand in this interdependent, globalised | :25:27. | :25:37. | |
era. It is not just us that is making this case. The WTO have made | :25:38. | :25:48. | |
it clear that they celebrate the re-arrival as a voting member of the | :25:49. | :25:53. | |
UK at the WTO for one vital reason. They're feeling is that globally, it | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
has begun to stall, and the UK is the single biggest exponent of free | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
trade, always has been, and they want to welcome us back for that | :26:03. | :26:05. | |
alone, if for nothing else. My right honourable friend is right. It's | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
important that we can show our trading partners globally that | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
whatever our differences about the mechanics in which we go about the | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
task, there is an overwhelming belief in the concept of free trade | :26:21. | :26:26. | |
in this country. As I said at the outset, the global trading | :26:27. | :26:29. | |
environment needs someone to champion free trade at a time when | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
many countries feel we are rolling backwards, away from the progress we | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
have made. If we as a country can speak with a strong voice about the | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
principles of free trade, citing examples from history as to why it | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
has benefited some of the poorest people in the world, I think we make | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
a moral as well as an economic case for what we are setting out. At one | :26:51. | :26:58. | |
point the minister has not touched on yet is the question of exchange | :26:59. | :27:04. | |
rates. Is it not essential that appropriate exchange rates are | :27:05. | :27:07. | |
arranged between nations so that trade can operate fairly? If a | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
country depreciates massively, they can develop a big trade surplus and | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
China has done precisely that in recent decades. Would he not agree | :27:19. | :27:26. | |
that exchange rates are crucial? It is an important point, but I would | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
differentiate between artificial and intentional currency manipulation | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
from a free market with floating currencies. I believe that floating | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
currencies are one of the ways in which we allow our economies to have | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
shock absorption so that we are not taking all the economic pain through | :27:44. | :27:46. | |
unemployment. One of the problems with the existence of the euro is | :27:47. | :27:49. | |
that some of the countries of southern Europe who might have | :27:50. | :27:53. | |
chosen other mechanisms to adapt to the process of change had to, in the | :27:54. | :27:58. | |
end, opt for high levels of structural unemployment because they | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
were unable to have those mechanisms. But his point is | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
correct. Artificial manipulation of currency is a different issue from | :28:06. | :28:08. | |
the workings of the general economy and floating currencies. Such is the | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
power of free trade that even if we ignore the social and humanitarian | :28:16. | :28:18. | |
benefits it has brought to the developing world, it would still be | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
indispensable from a purely economic standpoint. During the 1990s, the | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
per capita income grew three times faster in those developing countries | :28:28. | :28:29. | |
that lower trade barriers compared to those who did not. This effect is | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
not confined to the developing world either. Analysis by the OECD has | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
indicated that a 10% increase in economic openness is associated with | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
a 4% increase in output per head of the working population. In other | :28:47. | :28:50. | |
words, free trade works. Globalisation has been a huge and | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
sustainable benefit of the world economy through trade migration, | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
specialisation and innovation. These advantages exist at every level, | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
from microeconomics down to individual firms. Increased | :29:04. | :29:06. | |
competition, economies of scale and global value chains have all | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
contributed to a productivity revolution, boosting the output of | :29:12. | :29:14. | |
firms across the globe. Although it might not always be noticed, the | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
wider benefits of liberal trading policy have spread benefits to | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
consumers and households through providing a wider choice of goods at | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
a lower price. In the decade to 2006, the real import price of | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
clothing fell by 38%. In the same period, the price of consumer | :29:34. | :29:38. | |
electronics, as we know, fell by 50% despite the rapid technological | :29:39. | :29:41. | |
improvements which saw our mobile phones go from a $4000 brick that it | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
was hard to carry in one hand to computers little bigger than the | :29:48. | :29:49. | |
palm of one hand. They are tangible benefits of trade and they are | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
important to improving the lives of the people of Britain cannot be | :29:55. | :30:00. | |
overestimated. In any rapid change, which should ensure that the | :30:01. | :30:03. | |
country's growing prosperity spreads to all corners of the UK, of course. | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
It is therefore not only important, but right that governments are able | :30:09. | :30:11. | |
to mitigate the effects of globalisation and provide the tools | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
through which individuals and economies can adapt and prosper. | :30:15. | :30:19. | |
This is how we provide both economic opportunity and also security in an | :30:20. | :30:22. | |
era of sometimes broil during change. -- bewildering change. | :30:23. | :30:30. | |
On his comments about the interdependent global world, we've | :30:31. | :30:37. | |
been warned that hard Brexit could affect small and medium ports, which | :30:38. | :30:45. | |
rely on Sea trade. They are worried about new customers requirements and | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
tariffs. Given that 95% of international trade by tonnage goes | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
through airports, and ask what action is being taken to address | :30:55. | :30:56. | |
those concerns and make sure that Brexit will not affect the trade? | :30:57. | :31:02. | |
The first service we can do is not add adjectives in front of the word | :31:03. | :31:05. | |
Brexit, because what the government wants to achieve is is an open | :31:06. | :31:11. | |
trading relationship as possible. If you think about it, the FTA we | :31:12. | :31:16. | |
Booker once a organised with the EU, ought to be the easiest FTA in his | :31:17. | :31:23. | |
study. We're starting from 100% regulatory and legal equivalents. | :31:24. | :31:26. | |
The only reason you would not get a free and open trading environment is | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
if the politics of the process to presidents over the economics of | :31:31. | :31:32. | |
prosperity and well-being of the people. That is the challenge. I | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
will give her a second challenge, this is not just about Europe, | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
because the decisions we take will reverberate throughout the global | :31:43. | :31:46. | |
economy. If we put impediments into the European economy that do not | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
exist today, it will cause ripples across the global economy that are | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
felt well beyond our own borders. I give way on this point. On the | :31:55. | :32:00. | |
specific question of the ports, there is the ports regulation, but | :32:01. | :32:06. | |
was from the European Union and opposed by all 47 of the ports in | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
this country. It was inimical to our national interests, which is the | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
lifeblood trading relationship. So the ports issue is central to this | :32:17. | :32:20. | |
question, that why there another very good reason for leaving the EU. | :32:21. | :32:26. | |
I did not need any more reasons, but I'm all welcome to take another | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
reason on board for the decision we have already taken. I am most | :32:31. | :32:38. | |
grateful. Could the government make it clearer that we want an open | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
trading relationship with our European partners? And it's up to | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
the European Union to decide whether they want that to or not? But pretty | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
also ask them who is arguing for protectionist measures against an | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
independent United Kingdom, because I don't hear many voices in the EU | :32:59. | :33:02. | |
are doing for that. I think this is just there is a bit around by people | :33:03. | :33:09. | |
who want us to stay in the EU. Our debates here I watched the on our | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
own shores, so perhaps the first point to make is we are leaving the | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
European Union. That is not any sense that they won't be leaving the | :33:18. | :33:22. | |
European Union. The British people have spoken and the parliamentary | :33:23. | :33:26. | |
process has begun to make that happen. We have to look beyond our | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
membership of the EU and determine what sort of global trading | :33:31. | :33:34. | |
environment we want to live in. Very clear about model we want. As I have | :33:35. | :33:40. | |
travelled to other countries, we are encouraging other governments beyond | :33:41. | :33:43. | |
the EU to see Jerry European partners that it is in everybody's | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
interests, Europe and the wider global trading environment, that | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
they retained as open a global trading process as we can. That | :33:53. | :33:57. | |
includes student. It would make no sense at a time when the direction | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
of travel and the rest of the world is towards greater liberalisation, | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
that Europe, for internal political reasons, would introduce impediments | :34:06. | :34:10. | |
to that trading environment, in a way that some have suggested. I do | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
not believe that is in the interests of the citizens of Europe, whether | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
in the UK or in the European continent. If we are guided not by | :34:19. | :34:25. | |
obstruction but by the prosperity and well-being of our people in the | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
negotiation, we are likely to come to the right outcomes. To build a | :34:31. | :34:35. | |
free trading worlds, the UK must continue to support, strengthen and | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
promote the existing global trading structures. The World Trade | :34:40. | :34:45. | |
Organisation is the home of the rules -based international trading | :34:46. | :34:48. | |
system, as the Shadow Secretary of State and I agreed on earlier this | :34:49. | :34:54. | |
morning. It is a system that we unequivocally support. Its | :34:55. | :34:59. | |
predecessor, the General agreement on tariffs and trade, was | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
established in 1948, to offer a war-torn world stability and | :35:05. | :35:07. | |
prosperity and security through international trade cooperation. The | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
UK was there from the beginning, and have essentially, we work with our | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
international partners in a series of ministerial rounds, dedicated to | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
removing barriers to do it -- to trade and liberalising the global | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
economy. The WTO was established in 1994, following the success of the | :35:27. | :35:30. | |
Uruguay round. By the first time, we had an international body with truly | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
global reach, which existed to regulate trade and encourage | :35:37. | :35:39. | |
patients to adhere to the principle of ever greater trading freedom. If | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
the WTO did not exist today, we would need to invent it now. Britain | :35:46. | :35:51. | |
is a founding member of the WTO and a member in our own right, but on | :35:52. | :35:57. | |
leaving the EU, we will be to update the terms of WTO membership, with at | :35:58. | :36:01. | |
present on our commitments are applied through the EU as a whole. | :36:02. | :36:07. | |
Constancy and continuity will be key to our approach. As I set out in the | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
recent ministerial statement, we anticipate our rights and | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
obligations with respect to other WTO | :36:16. | :36:29. | |
members, as provided for under the WTO agreements, to remain largely | :36:30. | :36:32. | |
unchanged. Will achieve this through the process of replicating our | :36:33. | :36:34. | |
current commitments, which will cause the minimum disruption to | :36:35. | :36:36. | |
trade and the maximum level of certainty and confidence. And I'm | :36:37. | :36:38. | |
grateful to the secretary-general of the WTO for confirming that this aim | :36:39. | :36:40. | |
for stability is fully supported by the WTO itself. I would like to | :36:41. | :36:44. | |
thank him and his staff for the support they have given the United | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
Kingdom in Geneva. The meals be clear that replicating the EU WTO | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
schedules for the UK's independent use in the weepy judges the outcome | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
of the Article 50 negotiations with the EU. This process is largely | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
technical one and reflects the close ties of trade and commerce we will | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
continue to share with the EU even after exit. And throughout this | :37:09. | :37:13. | |
process, it is imperative that we maintain transparency, both with | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
this House and with our fellow WTO members. I reiterate the offer I | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
have made in private to the opposition front bench, but should | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
they wish to visit Geneva and get a high-level briefing with our | :37:26. | :37:28. | |
ambassador and the secretary-general, then the | :37:29. | :37:30. | |
government will happily facilitate that. The better informed we all are | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
in the house in these discussions, the better. Quite often when there | :37:35. | :37:44. | |
is talk of falling back on WTO rules. But WTO rules fall, form the | :37:45. | :37:53. | |
basis of any agreement, there are not something to fall back on if | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
there is no deal. Indeed, WTO rules are the basis on which the world | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
trade. On top of the basic WTO rules and our most-favoured-nation status, | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
we have a number of agreements which give us in effect exemptions to | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
that. But we trade fairly freely with countries where we don't have a | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
specific free-trade agreement, at the present time the United States | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
is worth about 20% of global export. We don't have a specific FTA, but | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
really able to trade barely freely. That's not to say we can't, through | :38:29. | :38:37. | |
FTA's and other tools available to us, improve the function of the | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
global trading system, but we need to do so. And the Department of | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
Trade and Industry has a highly skilled team dedicated to the | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
rectification of WTO schedules and collaborating with officials in | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
Whitehall and the WTO to make sure our transition to independent | :38:56. | :38:57. | |
membership is both smooth and fully understood by our trading partners. | :38:58. | :39:03. | |
I will give way to my honourable friend and later I will give way to | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
my other honourable friend. He's very generous. He mentioned the word | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
transition, which many people have now mentioned, including those who | :39:13. | :39:15. | |
supported the vote to leave. In terms of smoothing that process of | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
Britain leaving the EU, I wonder does he support transition | :39:21. | :39:24. | |
arrangements in terms of the EU and concerned about the comments today | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
that any negotiations on transition will have to be late 2018 at the | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
earliest, which doesn't leave as much time? I think it's simply a | :39:32. | :39:38. | |
matter of common sense, that if we have a transition into undue | :39:39. | :39:44. | |
environment, it makes sense to do so. What could not be acceptable | :39:45. | :39:47. | |
would be to have any of the elements we have sought to leave on leaving | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
the EU as a binding on that particular transitional agreement. | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
That is something that is part of the negotiation. It is a negotiation | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
and frankly, at any point in that, I would be taken too seriously or too | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
literally anything that the negotiators were saying in the | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
public domain. I will give wee one last time in just a moment. After we | :40:09. | :40:16. | |
leave the EU, we negotiate free-trade agreements with new | :40:17. | :40:19. | |
partners around the world. Although we cannot negotiate and conclude | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
FTAs while we remain in the EU, the Department has instigated ten | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
working trips with 15 countries, as well as a high-level dialogue with | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
the USA, which will develop into a fully fledged trade and working | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
group next month. Going forward, we may find that a new FTA may not be | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
the correct solution for every partner, but we will look at all the | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
measures available to us to ensure the best outcomes for citizens and | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
businesses across the UK. Our dedication to free trade will be | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
constant. That the nation, we will work to remove barriers, liberalise | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
trade and ensure access for British resources. As we move towards | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
greater trade liberalisation, we will make sure that we continue to | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
protect and promote British producers. The first duty of | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
government is the protection of its citizens, then the Department for | :41:15. | :41:17. | |
International Trade must extend that to businesses and work to defend the | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
drivers of Arab asperity from rule breaking an anti-competitive | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
measures. Free trade is not a free for all. That is why we have the | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
WTO. If we support a rules -based system, we must ensure those rules | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
are respected and vigorously enforced. I give way for the final | :41:38. | :41:44. | |
time to my honourable friend. I understand and take on board | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
everything he says about the WTO and the rules -based system, but as he | :41:49. | :41:51. | |
observed earlier, the bulk of our economy and the bulk of our current | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
competitive advantage lies in the services sector, which is not | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
covered by WTO rules. Would he agree that the government is equally | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
committed to making sure we have a global liberalisation of the service | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
sector, which is so critical to us. I think I said that earlier and also | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
said it this morning at questions. If there is a real cause for us to | :42:17. | :42:23. | |
champions beyond the basic case for free trade, it's liberalisation of | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
the service sector. At is the way in which we will unlock the potential | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
of many economies around the world and incidentally, the best way to | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
unlock Britain's economic potential in trade. Let me make one final | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
point. In my discussions around the world, I have been struck by the way | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
in which products, either goods or services, that originate in the | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
United Kingdom, are regarded as being at the top end of the quality | :42:51. | :42:56. | |
market. That is where we are best able to compete. There are those who | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
would make the case for a Britain with lower regulatory standards and | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
fewer protections in place across the economy, by the environment, | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
foreign workers and for consumers. Let me tell the house that Britain | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
will not put itself at the low-cost, low quality end of the spectrum, for | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
it would make no sense for this country economic league to do so, | :43:21. | :43:23. | |
nor morally would it give the leadership that we seek. I believe | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
there is no case for bargain basement Britain. High standards and | :43:30. | :43:34. | |
high quality are what our global customers demand, and that is what | :43:35. | :43:39. | |
we should provide. From our food and drink industry to technological | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
expertise, to our financial services, people across the world by | :43:44. | :43:47. | |
British because they see the Union flag as a kite mark of quality. The | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
key to our long-term economic prosperity lies not in abandoning | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
our standards and values but in reinforcing them. High quality high | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
reputation goods and services are the root to highly paid jobs and the | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
security of the future in this country. The highest ambition of | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
this government is to build a Britain that works for everyone, not | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
just a privileged few. Moreover, it must also be a global Britain, | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
willing to support a rules -based global trading system and | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
championing the cause of free trade itself. We do not pretend that the | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
era of globalisation is without its challenges, but we must never cease | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
to sure our own citizens the benefit that free trade brings the lives and | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
this country. We realise that the challenges and opportunities of | :44:40. | :44:41. | |
globalisation, allied to the rapid change in technology, will also | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
reduce its share of problems and security. We must strive to address | :44:48. | :44:51. | |
the negative aspects of globalisation and make sure no one | :44:52. | :44:54. | |
is left behind by the pace of change, while harnessing the power | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
of the global economy to spread prosperity across Britain and our | :45:00. | :45:02. | |
trading partners. We must make sure we equip a country with the | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
necessary skills to navigate these challenges and make sure those who | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
are disadvantages are given necessary support. We must | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
unfailingly uphold the principles of free trade across the world, | :45:15. | :45:18. | |
nurturing prosperity and banishing poverty to the pages of his study. | :45:19. | :45:25. | |
-- the pages of his study. The Leader of the Opposition has | :45:26. | :45:36. | |
wrongly dismissed political trade as dogma. -- he has dismissed free | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
trade as political dogma. To attack free trade and undermine our | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
nation's proud tradition will deny prosperity to those who need it | :45:47. | :45:49. | |
most. I would hope that all members of the House, regardless of their | :45:50. | :45:56. | |
political persuasion, would like to see the benefits bestowed on this | :45:57. | :45:59. | |
country and back our vision of Britain as a champion of global free | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
trade with the benefits it brings. Two centuries ago, Thomas Babbington | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
described free trade as one of the greatest blessings a government can | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
confer on its people. We intend to do just that. It is in our power to | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
build a better and fairer Britain for future generations. We require | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
courage to do so, particularly at a time when protectionism is rearing | :46:25. | :46:31. | |
its ugly head. Prosperity, stability and security are the prizes for a | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
strong, rules -based international trading order. That is what we seek | :46:37. | :46:44. | |
to achieve. The question is that this House has considered exiting | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
the European Union and global trade. Barry Gardner. Madam Deputy Speaker, | :46:49. | :46:58. | |
thank you. I want to join with the Secretary of State in paying tribute | :46:59. | :47:01. | |
to PC Keith Palmer and all the other victims who suffered on that fateful | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
day in March when this debate was last scheduled. The Secretary of | :47:07. | :47:15. | |
State is at the dispatch box, fielding for the first time since | :47:16. | :47:19. | |
the creation of his department almost a year ago, a debate on | :47:20. | :47:27. | |
government trade in government time. You see, it's not exactly normal | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
practice for trade ministers to hasten to the dispatch box when a | :47:32. | :47:34. | |
country has just posted one of the worst sets of balance of payments | :47:35. | :47:38. | |
figures in the country's recorded history. So whilst I admire the | :47:39. | :47:43. | |
Secretary of State's cheap spa, I am not entirely convinced about his | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
timing. The ONS figures released last week showed that in quarter | :47:49. | :47:54. | |
one, the UK's current-account deficit was ?16.9 billion, a | :47:55. | :48:02. | |
widening of 4.8 billion from a deficit of 12.1 billion in the | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
previous quarter, most of which is due to the widening of the trade | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
deficit. Despite sterling being solo, exports only increased by 1.7 | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
billion, whereas imported goods increased by ?4.3 billion, a | :48:18. | :48:26. | |
widening of 2.6. At a time when we are importing more than we are | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
exporting, surely this means it should be easier to get a deal with | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
our European colleagues, it is to continue exporting to us? Look, I | :48:36. | :48:42. | |
want us to get a deal. We want the best deals of this country. The | :48:43. | :48:51. | |
honourable gentleman has to take on board that since the referendum | :48:52. | :48:55. | |
decision took place, the value of our country's currency has | :48:56. | :49:02. | |
depreciated by 12%. I trust but that is not something that he feels | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
Sangin about. -- that is not something that he feels Sangin | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
about. In the areas where our economy will respond most quickly to | :49:15. | :49:20. | |
devaluation of sampling food and drink, we have seen an increase in | :49:21. | :49:23. | |
our exports in this quarter. I would like him to comment on why he | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
thinks, in light of the uncertainty that he paints, why our foreign | :49:28. | :49:35. | |
investment records in Britain are at an all-time high in the previous | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
year? Can I be chair with the Secretary of State? I welcome | :49:42. | :49:46. | |
foreign direct investment in this country. Of course we do. We want | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
people to be investing in our jobs, economy and future. Perhaps if I can | :49:51. | :49:58. | |
finish responding to the intervention from the Secretary of | :49:59. | :50:00. | |
State, than after an appropriate juncture, the honourable gentleman | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
might catch my eye. There is no difference between the Secretary of | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
State and eye on those matters. In fairness to the honourable | :50:10. | :50:12. | |
gentleman, I want to set out that in the past 50 years, there have been | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
15 sets of quarterly balance of payments figures that have been | :50:18. | :50:24. | |
worse than last week's. One of them was under a Labour government, just | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
after the global financial crisis. The other 14 have all been in the | :50:29. | :50:36. | |
past five years under the Conservatives. But it would be mean | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
of me to give the right honourable gentleman too much of a slap down, | :50:41. | :50:44. | |
because the Chancellor has been doing it all so effectively on | :50:45. | :50:48. | |
behalf of us all. Just yesterday, we read that the Chancellor is | :50:49. | :50:50. | |
demanding that the Secretary of State prove the case that our | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
ability to strike trade deals after Brexit will make up the losing | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
tariff free access to the EU. In other words, to justify his job as | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
International Trade Secretary once leaving the customs union gives us | :51:05. | :51:10. | |
the competence, or perhaps in this case, the right to negotiate are an | :51:11. | :51:15. | |
independent trade agreements. So a year on from the referendum, a year | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
from the government's announcement that it was taking back competence | :51:22. | :51:24. | |
on International trade negotiations, the Cabinet is still divided on what | :51:25. | :51:32. | |
it has all been about. This is extraordinary, Madame Deputy | :51:33. | :51:35. | |
Speaker. The country is crying out for leadership, and all its current | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
leaders can do is sit around the Cabinet table, plotting who amongst | :51:41. | :51:52. | |
them should be their next leader. A year on, what has been achieved? I | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
give way to one of their previous leaders. I thank the honourable | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
gentleman forgiving way. He is very busy asking the government what | :52:03. | :52:04. | |
their position is on the government has said it out clearly. Out of the | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
single market, out of the customs union, setting trade deals. As he | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
speaks for the opposition, perhaps he could clarify their position. | :52:14. | :52:16. | |
After the election, having fought the manifesto on a clear commitment | :52:17. | :52:20. | |
to leave the European Union, his leader and Shadow Chancellor both | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
said, we are leaving the single market and Customs union. The member | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
for Camberwell and Peckham said, we are leaving the singles market -- | :52:30. | :52:33. | |
single market and customs union. But when he was interviewed and his | :52:34. | :52:35. | |
colleague the shadow Brexit Secretary were interviewed, they | :52:36. | :52:39. | |
never confirmed what their leader and Shadow Chancellor said. They | :52:40. | :52:41. | |
have done an inch or could dance around it. So I ask him a simple | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
question. Is the Labour Party's position to leave the single market | :52:47. | :52:54. | |
and the customs union? I would urge the right honourable gentleman to | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
read precisely what our manifesto says. We have made our position | :53:01. | :53:14. | |
extremely clear on these points. And that is that we are leaving the | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
European Union. That means that if we leave the European Union, we are | :53:20. | :53:28. | |
wanting to secure the best benefits. And we will look to secure exactly | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
what the Secretary of State Brexiting the European Union said he | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
would achieve, which is the exact same and if it's that we currently | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
have inside the European Union. The honourable gentleman really does | :53:46. | :53:52. | |
need to allow me to respond to one of his interventions before he seeks | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
to follow up with a second! The trouble with the honourable | :53:58. | :53:59. | |
gentleman is that he doesn't want to listen to the answer. | :54:00. | :54:11. | |
Keep going, Barry. Is the honourable gentleman quite calm? No! Order. I | :54:12. | :54:27. | |
am sure Mr Gardiner will take the intervention when he wants to. Barry | :54:28. | :54:34. | |
Gardiner. Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. As I was saying before I | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
was persistently and quite rudely interrupted, we have set out that we | :54:40. | :54:49. | |
will try to secure the exact same benefits that the Secretary of State | :54:50. | :54:56. | |
for Exiting the European Union claimed would be procured in the | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
negotiations, but we are not fixated on the structures, we are fixated on | :55:01. | :55:07. | |
the outcomes. But we will be leaving the European Union. The honourable | :55:08. | :55:10. | |
gentleman can be assured that we are committed to honouring that | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
manifesto commitment. The honourable gentleman has had his chance. So a | :55:16. | :55:22. | |
year on, what has been achieved? It took Donald Trump's administration | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
seven weeks to produce a trade policy paper. This maladministration | :55:27. | :55:33. | |
has failed to do so in an entire year. I have been asking the | :55:34. | :55:37. | |
Secretary of State to produce a trade White Paper now for seven | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
months. How extraordinary that the department of international trade | :55:44. | :55:46. | |
has existed for a year, but has completely failed to set out its | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
mission and his vision in a white paper so the British businesses can | :55:52. | :55:54. | |
have some clarity about their future. Nor was there any clarity in | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
the Conservative manifesto. Scan on detail, it was peppered with vague | :56:01. | :56:04. | |
promises. We will work to forge a new culture of exporting. "We Will | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
take a more active role in supporting British consortia to win | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
contracts". Of course, we were promised a trade bill, now confirmed | :56:16. | :56:18. | |
in the Queen's Speech. And the accompanying notes state that one of | :56:19. | :56:27. | |
the main benefits of the trade bill would be to meet the manifesto | :56:28. | :56:31. | |
commitment to introduce the trade bill. Well, hmm, yes. That is | :56:32. | :56:39. | |
something of a tautology. Now, I am heartened to know that the Secretary | :56:40. | :56:42. | |
of State clearly read our manifesto, because since the general election | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
his department has adopted Labour's manifesto pledge to guarantee market | :56:48. | :56:50. | |
access for least developed countries at the same level that they | :56:51. | :56:53. | |
currently have with the EU. Since the general election, the government | :56:54. | :56:56. | |
has agreed with Labour's pledged to address trade remedies. If they will | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
only agree to publish a trade White Paper that integrates industrial | :57:02. | :57:04. | |
strategy with international trade policy, that creates a network of | :57:05. | :57:06. | |
regional trade and investment champions to promote | :57:07. | :57:18. | |
exports, that promises transparency and scrutiny of future trade deals | :57:19. | :57:21. | |
and builds human rights and social justice as a key strand of trade | :57:22. | :57:23. | |
policy, perhaps our encounters over this dispatch box may become a lot | :57:24. | :57:25. | |
more consensual. The challenges that face us in leaving the EU are not | :57:26. | :57:28. | |
insurmountable. Ours is a great and proud country, and we are an | :57:29. | :57:31. | |
enterprising people. Our goods and services are amongst the best in the | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
world. Our economy is a dynamic and attractive marketplace for | :57:38. | :57:41. | |
investment, and we will be a thought leader in the next wave of | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
industrial growth. But if we are to rise to the we need more that the | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
patriotic flag-waving we have had from the front bench opposite. We | :57:50. | :57:56. | |
need clarity and careful planning. And that is what we have not had. We | :57:57. | :58:04. | |
are setting out to leave our major trading partner. Where is the road | :58:05. | :58:12. | |
map? No White Paper. Where is the estimate of costs? That appears to | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
be what the Chancellor has now started demanding. Government | :58:17. | :58:19. | |
ministers appear capable of presenting anything approaching a | :58:20. | :58:22. | |
unified view on the matter. The Prime Minister repeatedly tells us | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
no deal is better than a bad deal. Her Chancellor says that actually, | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
no deal would be a very bad outcome for Britain, while her Brexit | :58:31. | :58:33. | |
secretary tells us he is pretty sure, but not certain, not 100% | :58:34. | :58:39. | |
sure, that there will ever be a deal. The truth is that no deal is | :58:40. | :58:45. | |
not a trump card to be thrown on to the negotiating table in some macho | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
gesture. It is actually the procedural outcome of Article 50. If | :58:51. | :58:55. | |
you fail to negotiate a deal within the two-year period, you are ejected | :58:56. | :59:01. | |
from the single market of the European Union and onto World Trade | :59:02. | :59:04. | |
Organisation terms. Far from being a trump card to be played, no deal is | :59:05. | :59:08. | |
actually a cliff edge over which you are pushed. My honourable friend | :59:09. | :59:16. | |
rightly focuses on the trade deficit, which is gigantic with the | :59:17. | :59:21. | |
rest of the European Union. And we have a trade surplus with the rest | :59:22. | :59:25. | |
of the world. So the problem is essentially with trade with the EU. | :59:26. | :59:29. | |
Does that not put us in a strong position to negotiate with the rest | :59:30. | :59:33. | |
of the EU, whatever happens afterwards? | :59:34. | :59:37. | |
I have absolutely said I want us to be in a strong position in these | :59:38. | :59:44. | |
negotiations, but what I also wants is clarity for businesses about what | :59:45. | :59:48. | |
the future will mean. Of course I give way. He talks about the | :59:49. | :59:55. | |
possibility that we crash out of Europe without a deal. If we don't | :59:56. | :59:59. | |
achieve a deal in those negotiations, he will be responsible | :00:00. | :00:06. | |
for not having achieved a deal? I think we must all hope that we will | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
make sure that we get a deal and that it is a deal that is absolutely | :00:11. | :00:18. | |
going to provide us with the friction free access we need, both | :00:19. | :00:22. | |
for our goods and for our service industry. I give wee one last time. | :00:23. | :00:29. | |
We talk about whether no deal is better than a bad deal. And I put it | :00:30. | :00:35. | |
to him that without accepting that, it doesn't mean were going to get a | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
good deal, but if we don't accept no deal is an option, we're guaranteed | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
we will not get an exceptional deal. If you were to go and buy a car and | :00:44. | :00:50. | |
say, I have to buy a car today, or you said, I would like to buy a car | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
today, but I don't have too, which would be the better deal? And would | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
he like to buy a car? The point I would make to him is that the | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
triggering of Article 50 was sitting precisely the time frame in which he | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
bought the car. It said that within two years, we either had to | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
negotiate a deal we would then be trading on WTO terms. He makes my | :01:19. | :01:26. | |
point precisely. My party has consistently said that economic | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
logic... Sorry, I would give way any more, because unconscious more than | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
20 people want to take part in the debate. I've given away many times | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
and I think we need to be fair to colleagues who want to speak in the | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
debate. My party has consistently said that economic logic should | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
dictate the negotiations. We should not jeopardise the new trade deal | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
for some arbitrary migration targets set for political reasons. We need a | :01:54. | :02:01. | |
new trade deal with the EU, it must maintain that which links us and | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
which is so critical. The EU currently accounts for 44% of our | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
exports. It remains closest trading partner in terms of the volume of | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
trade and geographical proximity. The top ten Commonwealth trading | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
partners combined account for just 8% and the entire Commonwealth | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
account for just 9%. The Secretary of State once referred to | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
protectionism as a class C drug. But if he really thinks that his current | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
round of trade talks could make up for the shortfall of goods in | :02:38. | :02:46. | |
leaving the EU, then protectionism is not the only class a drug used in | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
smoking. Labour is united in prioritising the best possible | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
access to the single market once we have left the EU. This means | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
continuous tariff free access and if necessary, a transitional | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
arrangement to avoid any cliff edge. It seems as if lately we may have | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
recruited the Chancellor to our cause. His Mansion House speech seem | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
to have swallowed the Labour Party handbook called. No deal being a | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
very, very bad deal. Securing the trade agreement with the EU must | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
remain the number one priority. Leaving the EU without an agreement | :03:29. | :03:30. | |
would be a significant failure by the government and the British | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
government -- the British people will will remember what they were | :03:36. | :03:43. | |
told repeatedly. Without an earlier comprehensive deal with the EU, | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
there will be substantive tariff and nontariff measures which will cause | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
friction in trade between the UK and the EU. Whether this is in customs | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
duties, custom checks or Visa processes were service providers or | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
VAT procedures. The government is to bring in the Rate Repeals Bill, | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
which incorporates European legislation into domestic law and | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
France's supremacy over domestic law. European legislation currently | :04:13. | :04:18. | |
in place will be converted into ordinarily rip peelable legislation. | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
On the face of it, this appears to mean that the UK can legislate | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
without any regard to EU law going forward. But if we are to maintain a | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
high level of access into the single market and preserve the supply chain | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
is currently in place, are explorers. Have to meet European | :04:35. | :04:40. | |
standards and requirements. Much of the current legislation will have to | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
remain as is. Our future framework will be to be alone to that of the | :04:45. | :04:49. | |
EU in order to maintain mutual recognition and equivalent is | :04:50. | :04:51. | |
necessary to trade into the European market. This is something many | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
British and foreign companies have been calling for, including Toyota | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
and BMW. No longer will we have secretly negotiating table that | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
decides on product and other standards, but we will be forced to | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
accept them if we wish to continue trading into the single market. | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
People might think this is a rather Holloway of returning sovereignty to | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
the UK. In any free trade agreement that the UK negotiates after we've | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
left the EU, will have to make some compromises on our sovereignty. The | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
UK will subject to some supranational courts system, if not | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
the European Court of Justice, we will at least be subject to the WTO | :05:35. | :05:41. | |
dispute settlement procedures. Modern free-trade agreements often | :05:42. | :05:49. | |
involve the harmonisation of your country and their partner country. | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
International trade agreements provide an opportunity to promote | :05:54. | :05:55. | |
higher standards across the world rather than a race to the bottom, if | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
they're negotiated correctly. There is no dichotomy between trade with | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
the EU in trade with the rest of the world. That is simply absurd. But | :06:06. | :06:11. | |
our global trade opportunities will be shaped by whatever our future | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
relationship with the EU is. Prospective trade agreement partners | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
will want to know what trading bilaterally with the UK will mean in | :06:21. | :06:29. | |
terms of access onward into the EU. One last time. I want to be helpful. | :06:30. | :06:35. | |
This constant emphasis on access to EU markets when they have a gigantic | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
surplus in our markets. John Maynard Keynes said Britain was concerned | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
about Rose trading balances between nations and they try to sort out the | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
system that would avoid it in future. Be happy gigantic trade | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
distortion with the rest of the EU, which as to be sorted out one way or | :06:55. | :07:03. | |
another. I would say to him that he does not want to see a decline in | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
jobs in any sector in this country. And it is really not right, simply | :07:10. | :07:16. | |
to dismiss the fact that if we do not secure friction free, tariff | :07:17. | :07:23. | |
free arrangements with the EU, then those jobs could be prejudiced in | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
this country. I'm sure he would want to take licence of that. | :07:27. | :07:33. | |
Cross-border data flows are a key cornerstone of the digital economy. | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
They help drive business efficiency through facilitating data transfers | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
between organisations located in different countries. To help our | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
economy grow and create jobs, we need to create a trade environment | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
that drives innovation and positions the UK as a leader in the digital | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
economy. Tech UK speaks the business when they say that the government | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
needs to facilitate access to both the European market and the rest of | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
the world, but this requires appropriate cross-border data-flow | :08:05. | :08:06. | |
arrangements with very different trading partners. It sounds simple, | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
it is not. That teetered negotiations on the privacy shield | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
framework to protect us, demonstrated that cross-border data | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
flows between the European system and the American system is a genuine | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
challenge that will not be addressed overnight in future FTAs. We can | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
simply create a separate trade policy on this issue for the EU and | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
a different one for non-EU countries. What direction we take on | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
one influences our options on the other. In his response to the | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
debate, I would ask the Minister to set out what discussions he has had | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
with the industry on this and what decision, if any, he has taken about | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
the appropriate way to go forward. I know they will appreciate the issue | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
of cross-border data flows is not just about facilitating market | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
access, it's also about the regulatory framework to provide data | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
protection for privacy and human rights. The second example of the | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
inseparable at the of trade and our policy with the rest of the world | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
refers to the support we provide agricultural industry. Our food and | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
farming are not only important to our national identity, but | :09:25. | :09:27. | |
agriculture also contributed 9.7 billion to the UK economy in 2016. | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
Our food and farming industry as a product of decades of shipping by | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
the EU single and of course the ?3 billion of support from the Common | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
agricultural policy. The EU's combined rights ensured obligations | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
under the WTO include a specified limit on the amount of agricultural | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
subsidies that the EU may utilise. The UK is entitled to a shade of | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
these as part of the Brexit divorce and could, in theory, continue with | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
the modified version of the CAP. But the Secretary of State will know | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
there are rumours has government is considering a deal whereby the UK | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
would give up a share of its agricultural subsidies to the EU, in | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
order to secure a more favourable deal for other sectors of our | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
economy. Can the Secretary of State guaranteed today that our future | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
trading relationships will not be based upon the sacrificing of | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
British farmers and their livelihoods? And it's not just the | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
EU who will be pressurising the UK to drop its share of agricultural | :10:33. | :10:38. | |
subsidies. Already, a number of countries have expressed interest in | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
free-trade agreements with the UK, on the basis of liberalising our | :10:43. | :10:48. | |
agricultural market. Countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand are | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
active members the Cairns Group, which is the WTO negotiating group | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
for agricultural liberalisation and the deduction of subsidies. Is this | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
a liberalisation that Secretary of State regards as positive for our | :11:04. | :11:13. | |
farmers? I'm extremely concerned to hear what my honourable friend is | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
saying, given that there are 400 sheep farmers in my constituency. | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
They would be very happy if we were to have a flood of cheap imports of | :11:24. | :11:30. | |
lamb from Australia. Would there be with me there can be no virtue in us | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
destroying the hill farmers in our country, to benefit the sheep | :11:35. | :11:40. | |
farmers in wealthy countries like Australia and New Zealand? My | :11:41. | :11:48. | |
honourable friend is right to point out, she is absolutely right to | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
point out that if we were to go on to WTO terms, I think the tariff | :11:54. | :12:00. | |
rate for sheep meat, from memory, is about 44%. That would absolutely | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
destroy the capacity of our hill farmers in particular to compete | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
with foreign imports. The government needs to come clean, it leads to | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
give clarity to the British food and farming industry on what our future | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
trading policy is. It's not good enough to tell them that the status | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
quo will be maintained until 2020 and then leave an abyss as to what | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
options are available for their future. These people needed | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
comprehensive international trade policy and the need to know what it | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
is. Beyond Brexit, as the UK once again assumes competence for our own | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
trade agreements, the Secretary of State must set out Harry is pursuing | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
agreements and share the benefits of globalisation more equitably. One | :12:46. | :12:48. | |
can only wonder that this government thought it sensible to embark on a | :12:49. | :13:00. | |
new industrial strategy without first publishing a White Paper on | :13:01. | :13:02. | |
trade. Will he publish a trade White Paper? He has introduced the trade | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
bill and the Queen's speech, but he hasn't set out to Parliament or | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
business any policy on which to base it. The Secretary of State has been | :13:09. | :13:10. | |
travelling around the world, holding preliminary talks with his | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
counterparts. He has recently returned from a visit to the USA. | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
And the Prime Minister first announced talks with the USA, the | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
American farm Federation wasted no time in seeing BBC came food hygiene | :13:23. | :13:29. | |
changes in any UK/ US the deal, namely to end restrictions on US | :13:30. | :13:35. | |
exports of chlorine washed chicken and hormone grown beef. The solvency | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
of our food safety and environmental protection standards will not be | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
sacrificed in the name of regulatory harmonisation. The reason the White | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
Paper should have come together is precisely because of the | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
interdependence of trade, job creation and economic growth, and | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
that makes those of us on the site of the How is fearful that they have | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
not done the proper assessment of the danger that future trade | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
arrangements could pose to job losses and breach depression. The | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
government has put the cart before the horse. A trade White Paper | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
should set out what our future policy on trade defence instruments | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
will be. The EU currently has in place a series of measures against | :14:20. | :14:29. | |
China and to a lesser degree, India and Malaysia, one steel, other | :14:30. | :14:31. | |
metals and solar panels. The duty has famously opposed such measures | :14:32. | :14:34. | |
at the EU. Now that will be able to set our own trade policy, the | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
government must tell us if they will stick to that line. If they don't | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
plan to introduce defence measures, they need to set out if and how they | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
will protect sensitive sectors such as the steel industry and the solar | :14:48. | :14:48. | |
panel industry from cheap imports. Or will the government sell out our | :14:49. | :15:04. | |
steel sector? The UK steel sector is in an existential crisis. My | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
honourable friend the members for Middlesbrough and Cleveland and the | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
member for Aberavon, who launched the steel 2020 report earlier this | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
year, alongside my honourable friend the member for Redcar, expressed | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
outrage at the government's leaked memo suggesting that steel would not | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
be a priority industry post-Brexit, threatening to destroy the | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
livelihood of communities across England and South Wales. Similar | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
concerns that were raised by my honourable friend the member of | :15:37. | :15:40. | |
Stoke-on-Trent Central as the ceramics industry faces increasing | :15:41. | :15:45. | |
competition from Chinese dumping on world markets. The British | :15:46. | :15:47. | |
government has for the last number of years been blocking efforts by | :15:48. | :15:51. | |
the EU to introduce the sort of anti-dumping measures employed by | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
the US by repeatedly exercising a veto and actively encouraging a | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
blocking group of other nations. One official in Brussels is reported as | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
saying that the British are sacrificing an entire European | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
industry to say thank you to China for signing up to the nuclear power | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
project at Hinkley Point and pretending is about free trade. It | :16:12. | :16:19. | |
is right that we reach out to our international counterparts by | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
travelling around the world to hold pre-negotiations. But it is no | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
substitute for clear policy that sets out what our negotiating | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
armoury is. An international trade White Paper should set out the | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
government's principles, a clear plan of what the UK intends to | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
achieve through future trade negotiations. To that end, I would | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
ask the minister to respond to the following questions about the | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
government's international trade policy. What are its principal trade | :16:45. | :16:52. | |
policy objectives? What will be their guiding principles for our | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
future negotiations? How will they seek further liberalisation from our | :16:57. | :17:00. | |
current tariff levels and in which sectors? What transparency and | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
Parliamentary scrutiny will be given over our future trade negotiations? | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
Will they disclose whether any obligations in trade agreements, | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
both in negotiation or finalised, are the motivation for legislation | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
before the House or regulatory changes by the government? How will | :17:17. | :17:19. | |
they ensure that future trade agreements benefit British SMEs as | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
well as big business? How do they propose to protect and enhance | :17:24. | :17:26. | |
workers' rights? How will they address human rights within the | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
context of trade agreements? How will sustainable development be a | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
guiding principle for trade policy? How will they ensure that current | :17:36. | :17:38. | |
environmental protections are maintained and enhanced in future | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
trade agreements? What investment dispute resolution model is the | :17:43. | :17:47. | |
government prepared to adopt? The department's recruitment | :17:48. | :17:51. | |
advertisement suggests that the priority for trade sectors are in | :17:52. | :17:55. | |
health care, financial services and education. But clearly, food and | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
farming do not feature as their priorities. How will trade policy | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
address the sectors that do not appear to have been identified as a | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
priority, and will be government exclude devolved administrations and | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
local government agencies from trade agreement commitments on government | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
procurement? How will they ensure that British businesses maintain | :18:16. | :18:18. | |
access to both European markets and the markets of other trading | :18:19. | :18:23. | |
partners, especially where there is considerable regulatory divergence, | :18:24. | :18:26. | |
and will the UK be adopting any nonconforming measures for | :18:27. | :18:29. | |
investment and service commitment in its future trade agreements? By | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
providing answers to all these questions and publishing an | :18:34. | :18:37. | |
international trade White Paper, the government may be able to restore | :18:38. | :18:40. | |
business confidence that it is holding current trade dialogues and | :18:41. | :18:44. | |
working groups that are backed by a clear and strategic plan. If not, it | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
will reinforce the sense that the government is blundering into this | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
process without a clear endgame and lacking a strategic understanding of | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
the issues at stake. For the UK economy and jobs in this country. | :19:01. | :19:08. | |
Sir William Cash. I would like to start by quoting what Angela Merkel | :19:09. | :19:15. | |
has said recently. And I would also like to say that I endorse every | :19:16. | :19:18. | |
word my right honourable friend has said, not in a flattering sense, but | :19:19. | :19:23. | |
because it is practical. He has shown command of the subject which | :19:24. | :19:27. | |
completely belies the tittle tattle that the member for Brent North was | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
referring to earlier. It has been my happy experience to notice that my | :19:33. | :19:37. | |
right honourable friend has got a complete command of this subject and | :19:38. | :19:42. | |
what he's saying is important, including in particular the historic | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
but not nostalgic background to what he said. This country has for the | :19:47. | :19:55. | |
last 400 years built itself upon the external trading policy, global | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
trading policy, right the way from the Elizabethan period and even | :20:02. | :20:09. | |
earlier than that. We have built up a policy of external global trading, | :20:10. | :20:18. | |
and when he mentioned Robert Peel, he was of course driven into the | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
repeal of the corn laws by no less than Richard Cobden and John bright | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
in that massive battle over the repeal of the corn laws. And that | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
did liberalise the trading system. It was the French commercial treaty, | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
the first-ever free trade treaty in the world of 1860, which was | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
negotiated on the initiative of John bright and indeed with Maurice | :20:46. | :20:53. | |
Chevalier, who was the president of the board of trade in France at the | :20:54. | :21:00. | |
same time. This is the basis on which our history has been | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
developed. We have been right all the time we have stuck with | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
free-trade, and we have been much encouraged by the attitude of other | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
countries, including his meeting with Mr Ross in the United States a | :21:14. | :21:20. | |
few days ago. On the question of the US, I watched a live speech by | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
Donald Trump only one and a half hours ago from Poland. And amongst | :21:27. | :21:36. | |
other things he said, he said we must get rid of government | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
bureaucracy. We must deal with overregulation. We must insist upon | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
sovereignty. He said this is the basis of our freedom which is for | :21:46. | :21:52. | |
free sovereign nations. That is why when my right honourable friend was | :21:53. | :21:57. | |
speaking about the question of our ability to conclude our own trade | :21:58. | :22:06. | |
agreements, we have to unshackle ourselves from the fact that the | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
European Commission determines our trade policies. There is no getting | :22:12. | :22:14. | |
away from that. The honourable member for Brent North is in a bit | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
of a pickle, because he knows that only last week, the member forced | :22:21. | :22:27. | |
dress -- the member forced debt moved a motion and they were | :22:28. | :22:30. | |
defeated by the opposition itself. They were not prepared to go along | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
with it. I have heard similar remarks made with respect to the | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
noble Lord Lord Adonis's debate in the House of Lords. There is a kind | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
of schizophrenia in the Labour Party at the moment on these questions. | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
They don't really know where they stand. They are completely confused. | :22:49. | :22:52. | |
But I do think there is a realism which is coming into it, and I want | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
to pay tribute to those sensible members of the opposition benches | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
who are beginning to realise that this is what is going on, that we | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
cannot stay in the single market and the customs union and leave the | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
European Union. They are completely inconsistent. I know the member for | :23:16. | :23:26. | |
Brent North accept that now. I would also say that the speech by Mr | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
Barnier today is also extremely relevant. I have the benefit of | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
having the full text of it. I am not going to go through every detail, I | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
can assure you, but some of the things he said are highly relevant | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
to what my right honourable friend rightly pointed to in his speech. On | :23:46. | :24:01. | |
the issue of a new deal, he says" no deal means a return to the status | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
quo. In the case of Brexit, no deal would be a return", he claimed, to a | :24:07. | :24:17. | |
distant past. He is wrong. The reality is that of as far as the WTO | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
is concerned, and I heard the honourable gentleman talking about | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
40% tariffs on land, actually even Mr Barnier himself says there would | :24:29. | :24:33. | |
be customs duties on certain matters. He says there would be an | :24:34. | :24:41. | |
average of 12% on lamp and also fish. That is way different from | :24:42. | :24:45. | |
what the honourable gentleman was saying. I don't blame him, he was | :24:46. | :24:48. | |
speaking from memory, but this is what Mr Barnier said. The reality is | :24:49. | :24:57. | |
that he also goes on to say, and I found this an extraordinary | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
assumption - in practice, no deal, he says, would worsen the lose lose | :25:04. | :25:06. | |
situation which is bound to result from Brexit. Again, he is wrong. He | :25:07. | :25:14. | |
said the UK would have more to lose than its partners. It is just not | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
so. He then goes on, and this is where he reveals the real position | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
which is going on inside the EU. He says" to my mind, there is no | :25:27. | :25:33. | |
reasonable justification for the no deal scenario. There is no sense in | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
making the consequences of Brexit even worse. That is why we want an | :25:40. | :25:49. | |
agreement. " They want an agreement because they know that just as | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
Allister Heath pointed out, now distinguished editor of the Sunday | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
Telegraph, in an article he wrote two weeks ago, that as far as the | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
German car-makers are concerned, they are getting worried at the idea | :26:03. | :26:05. | |
that there would not be an agreement, because it is not in | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
their interest either. So from the point of view of our internal | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
trading relationships with the single market, it is essential that | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
although we will continue to trade something like 40% within the | :26:18. | :26:25. | |
internal market or within the framework of the 27 member states | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
which will remain, the truth is that we run a monumental deficit, as the | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
honourable gentleman from Luton said earlier, we run a monumental trade | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
deficit with the EU and it is ?71 billion a year. If you're trading at | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
a deficit of seven to 1 billion a year, which went up by 10 billion | :26:50. | :26:54. | |
last year alone and we haven't even got the current figures, which will | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
be even greater, my right honourable friend may have some indication from | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
the ONS of how much worse it will be by this time next year. By the same | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
token, our global trade surplus with the rest of the world, in goods and | :27:10. | :27:16. | |
services, imports and exports, this is the golden thread, the parameter | :27:17. | :27:22. | |
that international statistics rely upon. Our global trade surplus is | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
expanding at an enormously accelerating rate and is the basis | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
on which our future prosperity and if I may say with respect to the | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
ladies and gentlemen opposite, the basis of which is the result of our | :27:37. | :27:43. | |
trading more effectively and with greater profitability in relation to | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
the rest of the world as a result of those companies being taxed, we will | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
then be able, after that growing prosperity zone, to be able to pay | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
for the public services that they want and we want. The National | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
Health Service will have more money at its disposal as a result of a | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
successful international trading relationship with the rest of the | :28:06. | :28:14. | |
world. He then went on, and this was an interesting observation. "I Say | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
to my British partners, a fair deal is better than no deal". That may be | :28:19. | :28:25. | |
the way it looks, but the truth is that they will need to be very | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
careful that they don't put us into a position in which we are having to | :28:30. | :28:37. | |
accept the idea of no deal. If we did, the advantages to us of trading | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
on WTO terms are not unsatisfactory at all, quite the opposite. So we | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
all need to be realistic about this. And then he refers to the great port | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
of Zeebrugge, where he is shortly going for a visit and where the UK | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
is the primary market for 17 million tonnes of roll on, roll off traffic | :29:03. | :29:10. | |
in 2016. "I Cannot imagine", he says, "In the interests of the UK, | :29:11. | :29:14. | |
Flanders and Belgium, that it would be a good idea for an interruption | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
of supply to be called into question". Well, we don't want to | :29:20. | :29:22. | |
have a trade war over ports with the rest of the European Union. As I | :29:23. | :29:28. | |
pointed out in an intervention, it is the European Union that brought | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
in the ports regulation. We had a massive row in the House of Commons, | :29:34. | :29:36. | |
in committee and elsewhere and we have carried on for the last two | :29:37. | :29:44. | |
years over this. But it is going ahead because there is no way we can | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
stop it. That is the answer to these questions. Until we get our | :29:49. | :29:54. | |
sovereignty back and our ability to run our own port system on our own | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
terms, we will be subjected to things like the ports regulation, | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
put through act by a majority vote behind closed doors. Nobody really | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
knows who decides what. I tried to find out. We couldn't make any | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
progress in discovering who was making the decisions. I think a lot | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
of it was coming from Hamburg, because they have an enormous | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
interest in preserving their own position. So imposing rules which | :30:22. | :30:26. | |
are rejected by all 47 of our ports, and all the trade unions. It wasn't | :30:27. | :30:33. | |
just the port employers. It was the trade unions as well, who all piled | :30:34. | :30:38. | |
into safe, we can't tolerate this new ports regulation. | :30:39. | :30:45. | |
And yet, there it is going through, and the bottom line is that all | :30:46. | :30:54. | |
these are reasons why our ports are the lifeblood, they are the arteries | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
for our international trade. They been for the four centuries my right | :31:01. | :31:03. | |
honourable friend referred to. I will certainly give way. I would | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
remind him and the How's that the reason this is a ports regulation is | :31:10. | :31:14. | |
that when it was a director, it was actually blocked by the European | :31:15. | :31:18. | |
Parliament, but so undemocratic is a legislative system in the EU, the | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
commission can force it through as a regulation, so that even the | :31:24. | :31:26. | |
European Parliament cannot block it. What kind of democracy is that? And | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
isn't it a good thing we're getting control back edge we have been | :31:32. | :31:40. | |
battling about this for years and what he has said is on a nail. It is | :31:41. | :31:45. | |
the democracy that is lacking in the EU and the freedom of choice to | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
which Donald Trump referred today and the freedom of sovereign nations | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
to decide their own democratic decision-making processes, including | :31:57. | :31:59. | |
the right to determine their own trading policies. It doesn't say | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
that anything negative about our ability to deliver what is in our | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
national interest, or our history, every single aspect of our life in | :32:09. | :32:13. | |
this Parliament and four centuries, has depended on our ability to make | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
up our own minds about what is in the interests of our own electorate, | :32:18. | :32:22. | |
based on general elections, when they exercise their freedom of | :32:23. | :32:26. | |
choice. And that freedom of choice is based on the word freedom. Once | :32:27. | :32:40. | |
you have arrived at the next point, the key point is this, and this is | :32:41. | :32:47. | |
understood, freedom includes freedom of choice. Freedom of choice in the | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
marketplace and economic is, freedom of choice in the ballot box in terms | :32:52. | :32:55. | |
of electoral decisions. That's why they went forgiving the right for | :32:56. | :33:03. | |
the working person to have the vote in 1867. That's what it's all about. | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
It's about freedom, and when you have that freedom, you can make | :33:08. | :33:11. | |
decisions in your own national interest. We've done it for | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
centuries and been successful. I'm delighted to give way to the | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
honourable gentleman. He complains that the EU is not democratic, while | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
at the same point worrying about the EU being a superstate. The reality | :33:27. | :33:39. | |
is a regional trade agreement. The wrongly five not like that. The UK | :33:40. | :33:45. | |
has agreements with a lot of countries. That is where he's taking | :33:46. | :33:48. | |
the UK and many people are wondering if he really understands what he's | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
doing. I know where he's coming from, but I simply say, as far as | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
independence for Scotland is concerned, actually even his leader | :34:01. | :34:07. | |
isn't now appealing to abandon it. That's the bottom line. And | :34:08. | :34:11. | |
actually, the truth is that comparisons between our great | :34:12. | :34:18. | |
countries, Somalia and Sudan, are simply absurd. Because this is a | :34:19. | :34:21. | |
great country which has been making its own laws were centuries. We went | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
into the European communities with a hope, and I voted yes in 1975 in the | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
referendum, because I wanted to see if this could work. But I have to | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
tell you that my 40 years in the European scrutiny committee has | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
proved absolutely that it doesn't, it is undemocratic, it is actually a | :34:42. | :34:45. | |
system that operates behind closed doors, and I doubt that even that | :34:46. | :34:48. | |
would apply in some of the countries to which the honourable gentleman | :34:49. | :34:52. | |
has referred. I now want to conclude by simply referring... I know are | :34:53. | :35:03. | |
making an impact when my right honourable friend stars wanting to | :35:04. | :35:10. | |
get onto his feet. My very good right honourable friend, I have | :35:11. | :35:12. | |
great respect for him, although we don't always agree about everything, | :35:13. | :35:14. | |
but let's not worry about that. I just want to conclude with this. | :35:15. | :35:32. | |
When you look rest of the world, we actually enjoy trade surplus with | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
the rest of the worlds of 34.4 billion. 44% of our trade is with | :35:36. | :35:46. | |
the EU... All right. Is that surplus not smaller than our surplus and | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
services with the EU? When you're dealing with the question of whether | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
or not we're making a deficit or surplus, you have to look at the | :35:57. | :35:59. | |
totality and the position, but I would say this, the chief trade | :36:00. | :36:07. | |
negotiating adviser has in fact got an enormous amount of experience, | :36:08. | :36:10. | |
and I'm extremely glad to hear he's been given the job of negotiating | :36:11. | :36:19. | |
with countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia. The position | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
is that as far as our trade surplus with the USA is concerned, last year | :36:24. | :36:31. | |
it was 39.6 billion with the USA, 1.3 billion in Canada and in 2015, | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
the trade surplus of 3.7 billion with Australia. They have all of | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
them said that they want to trade with us. It is absolutely right that | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
we should go into those negotiations on the basis that this will lead to | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
greater prosperity for everybody, including ourselves, and that is the | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
means whereby our economic growth and our prosperity will increase | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
exponentially, and it will be the means of providing security and | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
stability and with that, the provision of an effective economy | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
and the provision of public services through the taxation that comes to | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
those companies who trade there. This is a virtuous circle, this is | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
something we are dedicated to, not out of any ideology, not actually | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
from any sense of anti-Europeanism, but simply because it actually does | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
work. It is a good policy the Prime Minister has put her own will behind | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
it, and my right honourable friend the Secretary of State has explained | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
it thoroughly today. In all the circumstances, I would say that | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
whether we voted yes or no, we must continue with the policy we have now | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
got. Angela Merkel says it is the future of Europe that matters, not | :37:54. | :37:57. | |
Brexit. That's the policy of the German Chancellor. Let us seize the | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
opportunity to make sure we make Brexit work for us in our national | :38:03. | :38:11. | |
interest. After the next Speaker, I will be setting a six minute time | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
limit. I'm afraid a lot of members have put in to speak and it may have | :38:17. | :38:27. | |
to be reduced further. First, I would like to associate myself and | :38:28. | :38:31. | |
those in the SNP with the comments that the Secretary of State made in | :38:32. | :38:36. | |
regards to a PC Keith Palmer and the fact that this debate was due to | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
take place on that day. Our thoughts continue to be with him and with his | :38:42. | :38:48. | |
family and his friends. Madam Deputy Speaker, I welcome you to your | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
position in your chair, is thy city we have a gender balance among the | :38:53. | :38:59. | |
Speaker and Deputy speaker. I would like to speak for the first time in | :39:00. | :39:02. | |
a substantive debate since the election and me my re-election. I'm | :39:03. | :39:09. | |
grateful to my constituents are re-electing me. I want to pay | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
tribute to my former colleague and the member for or call and South | :39:16. | :39:22. | |
Perthshire. She was previously our spokesperson for international trade | :39:23. | :39:25. | |
and investment. She was one of the hardest working MPs this Parliament | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
has ever seen. She was a champion for people, she pursued many causes, | :39:31. | :39:35. | |
from matters relating to international trade, to the plight | :39:36. | :39:39. | |
of the people of war-torn Serbia, the UK Government involvement in the | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
Yemen conflicts and her dog at work in should time and time again the UK | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
Government was dragged to the dispatch box to answer the SNP's | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
questions. We will continue to pursue with bigger and passion those | :39:52. | :40:00. | |
issues. Let me be clear, she, as my former colleague, was a far cry from | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
some of the Conservative members serve you have replaced her and some | :40:05. | :40:12. | |
of my SNP colleagues. And I do not mean to be on terror the kinds, but | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
they are not in places today, they have only been here for a few weeks | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
and already they have rolled over on a distasteful deal with the DUP. | :40:21. | :40:29. | |
This Tory government has found ?1.5 billion to do a deal so that they | :40:30. | :40:37. | |
can vote with them to keep the pay down of emergency services workers. | :40:38. | :40:40. | |
Those workers who we've come to rely so heavily on. They should hang | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
their heads in shame, because the Scottish Conservatives and I have a | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
choice in front of them. They can choose to do what is now best | :40:51. | :40:53. | |
interests of Scotland, and the constituency voted the men, or for a | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
moment the rest of their party in support of a hard Brexit. I | :40:59. | :41:00. | |
challenge them to use the opportunities that lie ahead, to | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
make sure that the Prime Minister reconsiders her position, to join us | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
and other parties in defending Scotland boss might place in the | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
single market. Because the trade and customs bill seeks to put in place a | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
legislative framework to allow the UK to operate its own trade policy | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
and provide new domestic legislation to replace EU customs legislation. | :41:24. | :41:27. | |
The problem is that despite all the bluff and bluster from the Tories, | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
the UK had to cave in on the first day of Brexit talks and agree that | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
the divorce deal will have to be established before any trade deals | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
are agreed. Leaving the business, economy and workers across our | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
country in limbo. Just a day ago or earlier today, they said that | :41:50. | :41:56. | |
frictionless trade cannot take place. Frictionless trade of goods | :41:57. | :42:00. | |
and services is not possible outside of the single market and customs | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
union, and we need to know from the Secretary of State and his | :42:05. | :42:06. | |
colleagues, will there be transitional arrangements for our | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
economy, for our goods and services? Because we know the track record of | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
this government on scrutiny and probe says. It avoids it at all | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
costs. They had to be dragged through the courts to give | :42:23. | :42:25. | |
Parliament as the triggering Article 50. What hope do we have but we will | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
get to properly scrutinise the many laws and legislations that will be | :42:31. | :42:39. | |
coming back from the EU. This involves the so-called Henry VIII | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
powers to avoid scrutiny. What guarantees does the government | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
offered that they will not abuse those powers? What guarantees do | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
they offer that they will not use these antiquated measures to avoid | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
scrutiny and consent of devolved administrations? The public rejected | :42:58. | :43:00. | |
the Prime Minister's call to strengthen her hand on the Brexit | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
negotiations at the last election. She cannot carry on as if the | :43:05. | :43:17. | |
election result has not happened. Leaving the single market would be | :43:18. | :43:26. | |
an unprecedented act of self harm. Does my honourable friend agree with | :43:27. | :43:29. | |
me that it would be an act of self harm first Scotland, because at | :43:30. | :43:32. | |
present, EU trade deals with the likes of South Korea have meant the | :43:33. | :43:37. | |
tariff on a major export Scotch whiskey is reduced to nil, winners | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
other exporters coming in to South Korea have 20%. Does she agree that | :43:43. | :43:48. | |
we are unlikely to get these favourable deals without the | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
considerable weight of the EU behind us? I agree with everything she | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
says. The Secretary of State in his opening comments alluded to trade | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
deals with countries such as India particularly on whiskey, but are he | :44:08. | :44:10. | |
and his colleagues not concerned that chilling discussions recently | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
when the Foreign Secretary was visiting, he was advised that | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
mobility issues are of huge importance to us. We cannot separate | :44:20. | :44:23. | |
free movement of people from the free flow of goods, services and | :44:24. | :44:25. | |
industry. Trade agreements are about give and | :44:26. | :44:35. | |
take and it seems to me that this Government does not understand that | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
concept. The plans for a hard Brexit have immersed the UK economy in | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
uncertainty with inflation escalating and companies preparing | :44:46. | :44:48. | |
to move outside of the UK. Figures... Members chanter but you | :44:49. | :44:57. | |
only need to open the papers to see the news and examples of this. | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
Figures from the National in such of economic and social research says | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
Scotland's export could be cut if we fail to retain full membership of | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
the single market. Trade and goods script declined by 35 said its | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
Scottish goods exports were to fall by a similar amount. The cost would | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
be an additional ?3 billion and leaving the single market could | :45:25. | :45:28. | |
lower Scotland's GDP by more than ?10 billion. We must at the end of | :45:29. | :45:37. | |
this process when we have clarity on whether there is a deal or not a | :45:38. | :45:41. | |
deal, the Government must accept that if it is not taking on board | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
Scotland's position, that we must have an insurance policy, a say over | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
our own future and be able to decide whether we want to be an independent | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
nation within Europe. Scotland's main businesses issued a statement | :45:59. | :46:04. | |
last year confirming that Scotland's businesses need continued access to | :46:05. | :46:07. | |
the single market and free movement of Labour. We have raised concerns | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
about the impact of Brexit on business. The loss of EU nationals | :46:14. | :46:21. | |
will seriously harm our rural economy. Around 8000 EU nationals | :46:22. | :46:27. | |
come to live in Scotland and work in the food and drink industry and | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
15,000 migrant workers harvest our fruit and vegetables. We cannot put | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
their futures or the future of our vital sectors at risk. EU nationals | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
make a huge contribution to our NHS. One in 20 doctors come from the EU. | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
There are more than 1000 EU and companies, employing over 120,000 | :46:49. | :46:58. | |
people. They bring vital skills and expertise. We heard last week that | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
the rate of applicants for nursing posts from you had dropped to 96%. | :47:04. | :47:11. | |
That is going to be devastating across the UK. Scotland is an open | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
and modern economy. Our exports account to around 50% of our GDP and | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
this is why our membership of the single market is crucial. Scotland | :47:23. | :47:28. | |
trades with the world, the EU has signed free-trade agreements with | :47:29. | :47:35. | |
nearly 90 non-EU countries. And 28 countries are still to be applied. | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
The Secretary of State said he hoped they would be ratified soon, but | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
this is the driving growth in Scotland. To allow us to trade with | :47:46. | :47:50. | |
the rest of the world which has increased by 55%, if we are not able | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
to continue those trade agreements and we know how long many of them | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
could take, cumulatively we could be decades before we even stand still | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
in terms of the position that we have with full access to the single | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
market. Scotland's businesses are well placed to take advantage of the | :48:10. | :48:14. | |
opportunities to sell their products across Europe and the world. If we | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
leave, we gambled these trade agreements. The Tory manifesto | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
contained a pledge to leave the single market and the customs union. | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
Given they failed to gain a clear majority they must think again and | :48:30. | :48:34. | |
put options back on the table to make that central to their | :48:35. | :48:38. | |
negotiating position. It goes to show the contempt the UK Government | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
has for Scotland when you hear the Brexit secretary admitting to the UK | :48:43. | :48:51. | |
exiting the EU select committee that no economic analysis, none had been | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
done to address the impact of Brexit on the UK economy. How can we have | :48:57. | :48:59. | |
been in a position that knowingly was an impact study not done, but in | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
all of that time between the referendum and coming to that | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
committee, no work-out been done? This was compounded by the comments | :49:11. | :49:14. | |
recently where the right honourable gentleman said open now pushing | :49:15. | :49:21. | |
shins would confirm the UK would get a free trade agreement with the EU | :49:22. | :49:29. | |
was a case of maybes aye, maybe not. His comments show how the Tories | :49:30. | :49:37. | |
are... Just this week the Financial Times reported that London was | :49:38. | :49:41. | |
sending out a delegation to Brussels to present a secret blueprint for | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
post-Brexit free trade deal on financial services. The city are | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
left to do the work of the Government for themselves. Concern | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
over the damage facing employers if forced to move operations to the | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
continent. Not every sector is able to do that more should do that. We | :50:00. | :50:04. | |
should have a government listening to the devolved nations and all | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
those sectors. This is the latest indication that business do not | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
trust the Tories. The SNP put forward a sensible compromise | :50:15. | :50:18. | |
agreement in Scotland's place in Europe. It respected the result in | :50:19. | :50:24. | |
2014 and respected the result of the EU referendum. It gave a sensible | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
approach to the situation we find ourselves in that Scotland could | :50:30. | :50:32. | |
retain its ownership of the single market and remain within the UK. We | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
are working hard to support S M Ds and corporate with initiatives such | :50:39. | :50:46. | |
as border enterprise, we have launched a Scottish European growth | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
current asthma programme, the first part of the Scottish growth scheme | :50:51. | :50:58. | |
worth 50 million pounds. It will average at least ?100 million for | :50:59. | :51:01. | |
private sector fund managers. Evidence of the fruits of the | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
Scottish Government's Labour were born out yesterday when GDP data | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
showed the Scottish economy defy recession concerns compared to the | :51:11. | :51:20. | |
UK. This is set against the backdrop of accept uncertainty. The | :51:21. | :51:27. | |
Chancellor has conceded that a large amount of UK business investment is | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
being postponed and urged early agreement with the EU on | :51:33. | :51:35. | |
transitional arrangements. Our growth is under threat and we need | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
to hear more than warm words from the Government benches. The | :51:41. | :51:42. | |
Government of the bank of England spoke of anaemic wage growth and | :51:43. | :51:48. | |
said he would like to see what their wages begin to farm and generally | :51:49. | :51:53. | |
how the economy reacts to the prospect of tighter financial | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
conditions and the reality of Brexit negotiations. Scotland's voice is | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
being ignored, it is not democratic and it is not acceptable. Scotland | :52:03. | :52:06. | |
is a top destination in Europe for exports in the UK so it isn't | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
everybody's interest to have a close trading relationship. The Secretary | :52:13. | :52:22. | |
of State for exiting the EU recently said that Ireland will not have to | :52:23. | :52:24. | |
choose between having a strong commitment to the EU or the UK, it | :52:25. | :52:30. | |
can and should have both. Why then can that not apply to Scotland? In a | :52:31. | :52:37. | |
press conference of this year, the Prime Minister said the UK would | :52:38. | :52:42. | |
maintain the Common travel area, and excellent economic links with | :52:43. | :52:47. | |
Ireland. Why then can that not apply to Scotland? There must be a meeting | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
of the UK and devolved governments to decide objectives before the next | :52:53. | :52:56. | |
cycle of negotiations with the EU and there must be a commitment to | :52:57. | :53:01. | |
take seriously the interests of Scottish businesses, universities | :53:02. | :53:04. | |
and a range of other groups becoming alarmed at the way Brexit is being | :53:05. | :53:10. | |
handled. Scotland's voice must be heard during these Brexit | :53:11. | :53:14. | |
negotiations. Recently we had a surprise reporter of that long held | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
SNP view. The Labour Party leader took time out from partying in | :53:20. | :53:25. | |
Glastonbury to say, Scotland needs a clear input into Brexit negotiating | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
processes. He said the Scottish gum that must have regular and | :53:31. | :53:33. | |
systematic access to the British negotiating team so deep Scottish | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
perspective, especially in those areas for which the Scottish | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
parliament is responsible, is fully taken into account. That is very | :53:44. | :53:47. | |
welcome, it is just a shame his party cannot be united on access to | :53:48. | :53:53. | |
the single market. With this Government acknowledge the support | :53:54. | :53:56. | |
for a Scottish seat at the Brexit table and extend the hand of | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
friendship to all devolved nations to take part in these negotiations | :54:01. | :54:04. | |
that will affect their people, their economies and future. The | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
Conservative government is reduced and has failed to resolute a trade | :54:10. | :54:15. | |
negotiating deal with the EU. It is also important that the SNP and we | :54:16. | :54:23. | |
believe in the SNP that we maintain our international development goals | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
and ensure an ethical trade policy. Ensuring those are maintained, the | :54:29. | :54:31. | |
Scottish parliament must have a say on any real trade deal. | :54:32. | :54:46. | |
That is not acceptable and it does the UK's reputation no good on the | :54:47. | :54:54. | |
stage said the SNP will defend Scotland's interest and prioritise | :54:55. | :54:57. | |
maintaining membership of the single market and the customs union for | :54:58. | :55:03. | |
Scotland in the Brexit negotiations. She mentioned our relationships with | :55:04. | :55:11. | |
developing countries and resolving the tax treaty with Malawi was a | :55:12. | :55:15. | |
priority in the last parliament. Today is Malawi Independence Day. | :55:16. | :55:23. | |
Despite its many challenges, it is an independent country so we wish | :55:24. | :55:29. | |
them a happy Independence Day. Of course I share his sentiment wishing | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
Malawi a happy Independence Day and noting the work that members across | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
many benchers have done in terms of Malawi, not least the former Labour | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
First Minister, Jack McConnell who continues to challenge that work. If | :55:44. | :55:50. | |
Brexit negotiations alongside a firm commitment to developing an ethical | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
trade policy are by two. They will not get any kind of unity by | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
ignoring the issues they find in front of them. It is time to take | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
their heads out of the sand, face the music, work with the devolved | :56:07. | :56:10. | |
administrations so that we can get the best possible deal. I refer all | :56:11. | :56:21. | |
members... I am grateful, this is the first time I have had a chance | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
to speak in this new parliament. Let me praise the incredible work | :56:27. | :56:29. | |
undertaken by the Department for International Trade. I know everyone | :56:30. | :56:36. | |
in this chamber will have availed themselves of it. Ministers have | :56:37. | :56:42. | |
travelled to 50 countries. Ten trade groups have been setup, we have an | :56:43. | :56:46. | |
instructional trade advisor and the shrewd decision to make the | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
brilliant Antonia remainer at the permanent secretary and we have a | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
minister fluent in German, so everything is in place for progress | :56:56. | :57:03. | |
to be made. I have to say that I am sceptical about the future and may I | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
quickly say I do not work for the BBC. But they are used this | :57:10. | :57:15. | |
opportunity to say I am a huge supporter of the BBC and BBC News, | :57:16. | :57:20. | |
which is respected all around the world. Those who questioned the | :57:21. | :57:26. | |
BBC's patronage system will claim it is buyers are absurd. You can see me | :57:27. | :57:33. | |
when I defended George Osborne's Brexit emergency budget debate being | :57:34. | :57:38. | |
torn apart by Andrew Neil. He gave me no slack as a remainer coming on | :57:39. | :57:44. | |
his programme. The BBC is not biased or impartial and people claim that | :57:45. | :57:48. | |
it is have simply lost the argument, but let me get back to the main | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
point of this debate which is about trade and I confess that I find us, | :57:53. | :57:58. | |
this country in a confusing edition. We are needing a free trade area | :57:59. | :58:04. | |
with the EU in order to trade with them on the basis of WTO. At the | :58:05. | :58:11. | |
same time we can negotiate a free trade deal with the United States | :58:12. | :58:15. | |
because we do not like trading with the United States on a WTO basis, so | :58:16. | :58:21. | |
I am unclear as to what our position is on free trade and why we are | :58:22. | :58:25. | |
walking away from 500 million consumers and I find it odd that we | :58:26. | :58:30. | |
want to have no deal because we do not want a bad deal. It is quite | :58:31. | :58:38. | |
clear that we cannot pick and choose the different sectors that might | :58:39. | :58:42. | |
benefit from access to the single market and it is quite clear that | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
having access to the single market and being members of the youth | :58:47. | :58:52. | |
enable us to have free trade. The EU has negotiated 60 free trade deals, | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
we approved one in the House with Canada, they started their free | :58:58. | :59:01. | |
trade deal with career which has seen exports rise by 54%. They have | :59:02. | :59:08. | |
started negotiations with Japan and it is through no fault of the EU | :59:09. | :59:11. | |
that we have no trade you with the United States. Trade deals are not | :59:12. | :59:20. | |
necessarily... And once I hear ministers say that when we leave the | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
EU, we will have free trade deals, I would caution them. I had one of my | :59:26. | :59:30. | |
colleagues talk about the virtues of free trade which I share and the | :59:31. | :59:34. | |
opportunity to reduced import tariffs, but he has to beware of the | :59:35. | :59:40. | |
reaction of the British public and different sectors if we simply | :59:41. | :59:43. | |
reduced tariffs against their competitors. Not every free trade | :59:44. | :59:49. | |
deal will be plain sailing which is why it has taken seven years to | :59:50. | :59:55. | |
negotiate the free trade deal with Canada. | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
Is he aware of the research which says the average length of time it | :00:01. | :00:09. | |
takes to negotiate a free trade agreement is 18 months? It would | :00:10. | :00:12. | |
take cross 91 years to get to where we are. Does he think that would be | :00:13. | :00:19. | |
a problem? The idea that we can take a free trade deals of the shelf and | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
not faze lobbies in our own economy about possible threats to their own | :00:24. | :00:32. | |
position... All the sectors... These are extremely conjugated | :00:33. | :00:38. | |
arrangements. And we do benefit, although my honourable friend says | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
we don't have a free-trade deal with EU, but we do have access to a | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
market without quotas, with no tariffs and no nontariff barriers. | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
But remember, free-trade deals are constructed by human beings. I was | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
meeting someone this week who was a US trade negotiator and was very | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
well plugged in to that entire scene, who told me that the US trade | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
representative organisation is at full stretch already. It is quite a | :01:08. | :01:11. | |
list by President Trump canning the trade Pacific partnership. It has | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
got to renegotiate Nafta. TTIP is being put back on the agenda. When | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
President Obama said we were back of the queue, the language may have | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
been unfortunate. But I think we should be realistic about where we | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
are in line with the US and where we are in terms of the capacity to | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
connect -- for the US to negotiate with awesome. I have few questions | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
for the Minister on the front bench, and he is free to reply in German or | :01:41. | :01:49. | |
Russian. I would like to hear which countries and why we have chosen | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
those countries. We do have ten trade groups. I would like to hear | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
his thoughts on a timetable for a freight treat -- free-trade deals | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
with those countries. And I would like to know if there is economic | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
analysis as to what the growth of GDP will be once those free-trade | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
deals have been negotiated. Another point made by the Secretary of State | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
at the dispatch box, and I say this as a great supporter of his work, | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
was the welcome for investment we have seen in the last year. I | :02:18. | :02:23. | |
welcome that as well. As a former minister responsible for the digital | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
industries, particularly from companies like Facebook and Google, | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
which have many issues but we welcome their inward investment. But | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
would he agree that is predicated on their ability to recruit people with | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
specialist abilities? Will reassure us that as part of the negotiations, | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
as my honourable friend says, they will be able to continue to recruit | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
companies that want to invest in UK, people with the right skills both | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
from the European Union and from around the world? One of the | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
benefits of the single market was that you could recruit somebody from | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
the European Union and their partner and members of their family could | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
also come here and work. That was a huge incentive. On the issue of | :03:07. | :03:14. | |
benefits of our single market, and I fully respect that we will be | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
leading the single market and needing a new deal, if I take fro | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
example the arrangements we have at the moment, if you were to send a | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
scanner to a Spanish hospital you would need a maintenance contract | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
with it. You could send your engineer to go and service that | :03:34. | :03:36. | |
under the posting of workers arrangement. You have mutual | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
recognition. Other professional qualifications. Would you agree that | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
it is not only important to have in our new trade agreements the ability | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
to trade goods easily, but also to trade services and to have that | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
ability to send workers flexibly from one jurisdiction to another? My | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
honourable friend makes a fantastic point. She was incredibly effective | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
as an MEP. She would have turned up to Jean-Claude Juncker's speech | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
yesterday. I hope the government will listen to her as we negotiate | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
Brexit. She has unparalleled experience in this House. The point | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
she makes is very effective and pertinent to my constituency where | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
MRI scanners are made at Oxford instruments. I would finally | :04:26. | :04:36. | |
asked... We have a debate in Westminster Hall on Wednesday. I | :04:37. | :04:39. | |
don't know if my member -- my honourable friend will be speaking | :04:40. | :04:47. | |
at the debate. I will speak about it on Wednesday morning. I have run out | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
of time. I have only got 30 seconds left. I want to conclude with a | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
plea. I know that we have this two-year timetable for Article 50, | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
but as the Secretary of State said, this is a political process. He is | :05:02. | :05:06. | |
hoping the European Union will do a deal because their politicians want | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
to see what -- to do what is right for their people. Why are we wedded | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
to a two-year cliff edge process? Even in a six minute speech I have | :05:16. | :05:19. | |
been able to highlight some of the extraordinary complexity is we are | :05:20. | :05:23. | |
facing. If I had longer I could have expanded. | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It's a pleasure to follow the | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
honourable gentleman. Perhaps unusually, I agree with almost | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
everything he said. It is a year since the referendum. It is three | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
months since we triggered Article 50. We wasted two months with a | :05:43. | :05:50. | |
general election that has left the Prime Minister enfeebled and the | :05:51. | :05:53. | |
front bench confused, and the impact on our economy is potentially hugely | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
serious. We are running out of time. The public services are in crisis. | :06:00. | :06:03. | |
We need the sort of confident direction which is necessary to | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
attract investment in the economy, to enable growth. And the taxation | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
receipts which are necessary to bolster our services. When I debated | :06:13. | :06:20. | |
in the EU referendum debate a year ago, and I have heard similar | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
sentiments reiterated in the debate today, one of the arguments I heard | :06:26. | :06:32. | |
regularly was that because of the trading imbalance between us and the | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
EU, they need us more than we need them, and therefore there will be | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
very friendly -- favourably inclined to a generous settlement. If that is | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
the case, what I can't understand is why there is a problem with saying | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
that we want to remain part of the single market, we want to remain | :06:54. | :06:58. | |
part of the Customs Union, and must go throughout -- for a transitional | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
arrangement until we get it. But somehow we don't seem to be getting | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
that from the government, and that is what is needed to get the | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
confidence, to get investors investing in our country. Now I make | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
it clear that I have a constituency interest. I have more foreigners in | :07:21. | :07:29. | |
my constituency than any other. They are tied into the manufacturing | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
supply chain, particularly the car industry, and the future welfare of | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
the car industry is absolutely essential for the future jobs Zander | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
Diamond prospect of my constituents. And we must be quite clear the role | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
that the car industry plays in the national economy. 7070 -- 77% of | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
cars manufactured in Britain are exported. 56% of these to Europe. If | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
you look at our overall trading statistics by value, the | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
contribution of the car industry is huge and significant. And it is no | :08:05. | :08:11. | |
coincidence that what I articulated as our objectives earlier are | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
exactly what the Society of motor Manufacturers and traders want. This | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
idea that no deal is better than a bad deal and falling back on WTO | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
tariffs is a nonsense. It would add 10% to car prices. 2.5% to 4.5% for | :08:28. | :08:36. | |
parts. And given the toing and froing of car parks in the industry, | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
the potential cost is ?2.6 billion per -- for imports and 1.6 billion | :08:41. | :08:47. | |
pounds for exports. The cost of an average car could increase by 1500. | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
The mixed messaging and hostile rhetoric from the government has | :08:54. | :09:00. | |
caused damage. The figures earlier, mentioned by my honourable friend | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
for Bridgend in the business questions, about investment in the | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
car industry, which is dropped from 2.56 billion in 2015 to only 322 | :09:09. | :09:16. | |
million in the first half of this year, these are hugely significant | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
for the future of a Manufacturing industry that is crucial for our | :09:22. | :09:29. | |
export performance. I would just like to comment on the approach and | :09:30. | :09:38. | |
the potential of some of the alternative scenarios that I have | :09:39. | :09:40. | |
heard outlined. And I would like to make it clear, Mr Speaker, Madam | :09:41. | :09:46. | |
Deputy Speaker, that I am as in favour of trading with other | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
countries as anybody is. And I think implicit in a lot of the arguments I | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
have heard said is that somehow the EU is a barrier to us having good | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
trading relations with other countries. I would say to them... | :10:02. | :10:15. | |
Thank you. Our markets and economy are at a Cliff edge due to the | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
responsible behaviour of the UK government at the moment. I agree | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
with my honourable friend in the statements he has made. Can I also | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
correct the honourable member for a stone in his Commons he made earlier | :10:29. | :10:38. | |
on sheep market imports. And Miss quoting Michel Barnier in the | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
tariffs of 12%. What is actually the case is that sheep market imports | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
outside of the EU are subject to tariffs of 12%, plus a fixed amount | :10:48. | :10:59. | |
ranging from 900 euros... Order! I have been very lenient with the | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
honourable lady because I appreciate she has only been in the House for a | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
matter of days. But what she is actually doing is intervening on the | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
honourable gentleman for West Bromwich. She making a speech about | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
something that was said earlier by someone else. I am sure she will get | :11:17. | :11:22. | |
the hang of it. But I can't let her go on any longer. I am sorry. Mr | :11:23. | :11:27. | |
Bailey. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I do think the ability to | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
make a speech whilst doing an intervention demonstrates that the | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
member is rapidly acquiring the skills! Can I just get back to the | :11:38. | :11:51. | |
point that I was making? If being a member of the EU is an impediment to | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
trading with other countries, why is it that some of our key EU rivals, | :11:56. | :12:01. | |
such as Germany and France, actually managed to trade far more | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
successfully with those at market than we do? Could it be that | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
notwithstanding their membership of the EU, they are doing something | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
right that we are not doing? And our approach should take that into | :12:17. | :12:20. | |
account rather than blaming the EU for some of our deficiencies in our | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
ability to get the maximum from our trading potential with countries | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
outside. I would also like to make the point, there is this rather | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
naive and I think totally fallacious belief that somehow been coming out | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
of the EU, it is gone to be easy to trade with other countries. The fact | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
is, and again if you look at the biggest market abroad, the expanding | :12:47. | :12:54. | |
markets, China, India and Brazil, if you look at the World Bank ratings | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
on ease of doing business, China is 96, India 149th and Brazil 143rd. | :13:01. | :13:08. | |
The idea that by coming out of the EU they are going to become any | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
easier to trade with quite frankly is self-delusion. The honourable | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
member for Wantage outlines some of the practical difficulties there are | :13:19. | :13:22. | |
in setting up any trade negotiations with other countries. And those will | :13:23. | :13:30. | |
still be alive. The fact is by coming out of the EU we are moving | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
from a trading bloc which is relatively easy to deal with, the | :13:35. | :13:39. | |
one that isn't. And we need at this point to make it quite clear that we | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
want to remain within the EU single market and Customs union. | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
Maiden speech. Julia Dockrell. | :13:51. | :14:00. | |
CHEERING. I thank the honourable member Fred 's contribution and I am | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
grateful to you Madam Deputy Speaker for calling me to make my maiden | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
speech in this important debate about trade. I am also thankful to | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
my honourable friend 's for a gathering around like a protective | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
huddle of penguins. I very much appreciated! We must be realistic, | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
pragmatic and determined about how we best shape this country as we | :14:21. | :14:22. | |
leave the European Union. Too often debate about how we do this is | :14:23. | :14:28. | |
infected by corrosive pessimism that betrays a lack of confidence in our | :14:29. | :14:30. | |
nation and what we can offer the world. Now is it time for | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
resilience, resourcefulness and self belief. Not a crowing self regard, | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
but nevertheless an appreciation for our people and we have created | :14:39. | :14:39. | |
together. First I would like to pay tribute to | :14:40. | :14:50. | |
my predecessor dame Angela Watkinson, a lady of grace and who | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
leaves a proud legacy. She embodies the essence of conservatism. From | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
humble roots she not only built a flourishing career through her hard | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
work and talent but her record of public service, particularly through | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
her church and a half of children with disabilities. I offer her my | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
profound gratitude on behalf of the people of one chance and often | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
stuff. Like me Hornchurch and not Minister will always and forever | :15:23. | :15:27. | |
have an Essex heart. It was an agricultural parish and the vestiges | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
of a simpler past scattered across the seat like and antiques joules. | :15:33. | :15:46. | |
From the mid-17th century, the area attracted successful merchants from | :15:47. | :15:48. | |
London looking to build their country pads and Upminster was first | :15:49. | :15:54. | |
formally collected to the metropolis by rail. Its population remained | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
modest when a developer sported the chance to turn the area into a new | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
garden suburb. One church was similarly swept up and by 1965 both | :16:06. | :16:12. | |
were formally incorporated into favouring. The area's role in | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
defending against the war was played out in my constituency and it later | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
helped revive London by providing land for a large new housing estate | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
on Harold Hill to alleviate housing shortages. What more fitting | :16:28. | :16:33. | |
location for the first sale of a council home to a tenant by the GLC. | :16:34. | :16:41. | |
For aspiration, hard work and a deep sense of family, community and | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
nationhood flow through the veins of my constituents. Ours is the seat | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
where stability mixes with the upward mobility of the metropolis. | :16:51. | :16:58. | |
It is a place where taxis, bands and the tools of trade people rests, | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
where doorways are swept, Holmes taken pride in and where people hold | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
honest hopes for good schools, jobs, public services and homes. My | :17:11. | :17:13. | |
constituents contribute and believing what this nation has to | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
offer but they expect our nation's politicians to hold that belief as | :17:19. | :17:21. | |
well. I began my career working for my right honourable friend the | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
member for the City of London and Westminster, he gave me the space | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
and confidence to flourish. It fills me with enormous joy to see him | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
promoted to serve his country. Those were deceptively sunny days but in | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
quick succession I was to witness the expenses crisis, the financial | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
crisis and then an unending series of scandals that systematically | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
undermined public trust in nearly every institution. I shared in the | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
national mood of disillusionment. Not long afterwards I attended a | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
town hall meeting where I saw councillors physically attacked and | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
issued death threats to one another. I felt a profound sense of horror | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
over what has happened in the borough, the divisive, identity | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
politics of race, religion and class had turned out to breed a culture of | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
grotesque corruption, instability and isolation while local | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
politicians self congratulatory mantras were used only as a cloak to | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
retain power. That night inspired me to become one in five feisty | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
Conservative councillors who has fought to expose what was going on. | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
Tower Hamlets is a byword for what can go wrong when we failed to | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
uphold the systems, is that you should that make Britain work. I | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
spent time working with European and developing nations on governance | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
issues. In witnessing developing niche and spat on corruption it | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
became clear that without decent governance all other efforts to | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
raise living standards and increase the spirit he will struggle. | :19:01. | :19:06. | |
Meanwhile, in seeing the EU in close quarters I reluctantly came to the | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
view that it was divorced from the reality from those it represents and | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
it is now time to return our accountability. I should like to see | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
post Brexit Britain as one of a group of modern, open nations | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
pursuing close corporation in matters of security and defence and | :19:25. | :19:27. | |
an ambitious agenda of free trade covering goods and services, | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
economic prosperity and the creation of international standards for the | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
new technologies shaping our lives. This must sit alongside a | :19:37. | :19:40. | |
restatement of the importance of the nation state with a loose focus on | :19:41. | :19:44. | |
intergovernmental corporation rather than collected decision-making. For | :19:45. | :19:52. | |
our Parliamentary democracy is a precious and delicate gift, the sum | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
of the toil, sacrifice, disagreements and compromises that | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
generations before us have made. Its principles have proved a temp fate | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
governance across the globe and provided a space for millions of | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
individuals to flourish. It is a dynamic system that works because it | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
is lubricated by trust and because each generation tries their best to | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
find chewing it to reflect the needs and wants of the citizens they | :20:21. | :20:24. | |
represent. The past decade may have undermined trust in the economy, | :20:25. | :20:28. | |
politicians and media that crises can drive improvements and should | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
not be taken as a reason to give up or dismiss our nation with a | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
relentless and virulent negativity. Quite the opposite, it is the duty | :20:38. | :20:43. | |
of our politicians to reform and to pursue the hopes and ambitions of | :20:44. | :20:48. | |
British people of every background as we enter this challenging but | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
enormously exciting new era. Helen Goodman. I would like to begin by | :20:54. | :21:05. | |
congratulating the honourable member for Hornchurch and Upminster on her | :21:06. | :21:10. | |
agent speech. She demonstrated how attached she feels to her | :21:11. | :21:13. | |
constituency and that is the best start for being an effective MP. It | :21:14. | :21:21. | |
is also a demonstration of progress we're making when a member can stand | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
up and say that they are the second woman member in their constituency. | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
This is the first time I have spoken since the general election and of | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
course I want to begin by thanking my constituents since for taking | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
part in the general election, especially those who voted Labour. | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
The majority of my constituents voted to leave the European Union in | :21:48. | :21:53. | |
the referendum last year. And when I have discussed this with them what | :21:54. | :21:57. | |
they have told me is that they want a Brexit that immigration but one | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
that boosts exports and secures long-term jobs, particularly in | :22:04. | :22:06. | |
manufacturing. What they were like about the European Union is the | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
social chapter, the Common Market, what we call the customs union, the | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
environmental protections, corporations on our NT and the | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
European arrest warrant. Because of their views on migration, I have to | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
say I think it is inevitable that we are going to have to as part of the | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
event the European Union also believe the single market. But I | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
think the issues on the customs union are rather different and I am | :22:36. | :22:43. | |
very pleased that with the speech that my honourable friend made from | :22:44. | :22:46. | |
the front bench and the remarks made by the honourable member for Saint | :22:47. | :22:51. | |
pancreas who said we must keep the customs union on the table. I do not | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
know why the Chancellor were suggesting that there are legal | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
difficulties in this. Turkey belongs to the customs union and not the | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
European Union, it is the position this country had in the period | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
between 1975 and 1992, and this gives us not just tariff free trade | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
but barrier free trade. When I went to talk to the north-east chamber of | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
commerce, they were worried about how firms would handle the rules of | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
origin if we were to leave the customs union. It is not enough for | :23:30. | :23:37. | |
the customs, that HMRC to have computer systems, that does not deal | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
with the bureaucracy because all the individual firms have to apply in | :23:45. | :23:51. | |
order to be able to use, to get the stages they need in order to be able | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
to use this system and that is immensely bureaucratic and | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
time-consuming and what we have found is this increases costs by | :24:00. | :24:07. | |
about 25%. Another thing which I think it is very important is what | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
we are going to do and the Government has not been clear at all | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
about all the European agencies. In my constituency areas is a Glaxo | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
plant, it employs 1000 people, it produces 500,000 drugs a day. I have | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
been working with Glaxo to look at what kind of Brexit deal would be | :24:30. | :24:33. | |
good for the pharmaceutical industry. They want a level playing | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
field with the other drugs manufacturers across Europe and what | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
that means is staying inside the European medicines agency. The | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
European medicines agency is located at the moment in London because | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
Britain is one of the best producers or pharmaceuticals and we helped to | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
draft almost all the walls that the European medicines agency applies. | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
What Glaxo have said in their paper on priorities for the UK's accident | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
which they sent to me is this, any UK withdrawal from the EU that ends | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
damages the UK's ability to benefit from the EU framework could | :25:17. | :25:25. | |
significantly impacts patients and hinder GS K's operations in the UK | :25:26. | :25:31. | |
and across the EU. Any future regulatory processes must avoid | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
introducing delays, significant costs or unpredictable outcomes. It | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
is critical that an agreement is reached early in negotiations | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
between the UK and EU, that the European regulatory framework will | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
continue to apply to medicines, vaccines, medical devices and | :25:52. | :25:56. | |
consumer ticks that are already authorised or undergoing trials to | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
ensure supply or development of these products are maintained | :26:01. | :26:08. | |
without disruption. Thank you to the honourable member to give way. I was | :26:09. | :26:12. | |
interested in in what she was saying about the issues to do with | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
medicines and vaccines because yes the mutual recognition principle is | :26:18. | :26:21. | |
helpful in allowing British companies to work with others across | :26:22. | :26:24. | |
Europe and the single market, but there are issues which make it | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
difficult for those same pharmaceutical developers to then | :26:31. | :26:34. | |
share data with American counterparts and under the seat | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
agreement, which is not perfect for the UK, there are potential and fits | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
of having mutual recognition not only with Europe but also there, and | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
with the honourable member not agree we would have both types agreement | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
if possible? What we really want to have is minimal regulatory costs on | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
the businesses and that means that we should stay in the European | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
medicines agency because it really is and we have to setup our own we | :27:07. | :27:13. | |
would then be imposing yet a third regulatory system on them and that | :27:14. | :27:21. | |
is immensely expensive. We have a lot of exports and a lot of jobs in | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
this sector. Quite down a lot of peak yous before the election to the | :27:27. | :27:33. | |
Department, I got content free answers. I now want ministers to | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
come clear on what they are going to do that just about the European | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
Medicines Agency but about the 40 other agencies we belonged to | :27:43. | :27:45. | |
ranging from aviation safety to plant health. All of which | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
facilitate trade on a level playing field for British businesses. The | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
second group of people I am concerned about are the hill | :27:56. | :28:04. | |
farmers. I have 400 hill farmers. After Brexit, three things matter | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
for them- the new trade rules, the support systems and their | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
regulations on food safety and the environment. Again, we have had no | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
clarity whatsoever from ministers. If ministers agreed the import of | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
meat with lower animal welfare standards, lower consumer safety and | :28:25. | :28:33. | |
lower prices, they can decimate British agriculture. This would be a | :28:34. | :28:37. | |
disaster for farmers and a disaster for the environment. | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
Can I shock the front bench by saying I agree with absolutely | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
everything the honourable member for Bishop Auckland said. About the | :28:49. | :28:55. | |
member for Hornchurch and Upminster, who is indeed truly fabulous! As we | :28:56. | :29:03. | |
all cuddled around her in what is now known as a doughnut. I'm used to | :29:04. | :29:08. | |
being called a doughnut. I have never before being called a penguin. | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
I have waddled back to my usual place. I am proud to have supported | :29:13. | :29:19. | |
Brexit. And while there were many reasons to support Brexit, the | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
principal reason was around taking back control of our laws, my | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
principal reason was not around that, although I did also campaign | :29:29. | :29:32. | |
on that issue, but about the economic future of Britain. Prior to | :29:33. | :29:37. | |
entering this place I was a banker. When I rang banks in various African | :29:38. | :29:45. | |
countries, the backbone of those countries and the bank was | :29:46. | :29:50. | |
commodities and trading goods. So I have some degree of experience with | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
trade finance, with letters of credit, export guarantees and also | :29:56. | :30:03. | |
doing business across different territories and trading across | :30:04. | :30:07. | |
different territories. As such, I think it is quite good that this | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
parliament is not jam-packed full of detailed legislation beyond Brexit. | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
Because Brexit is going to become placated enough in the detail today. | :30:18. | :30:23. | |
I personally think we will look back with a selective memory and not see | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
Brexit as a great revolution in retrospect. It feels very | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
problematic at the moment and I feel for the Minister who is responsible | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
on a day-to-day basis for delivering. In many ways I'm | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
grateful for being on the backbenches having campaigned for | :30:39. | :30:40. | |
something and letting him do some of the details list. I would like to do | :30:41. | :30:47. | |
more of the next 18 months on trade and customers -- customs. The | :30:48. | :30:54. | |
honourable member of Stone gave us a bit of history lesson. But I think | :30:55. | :30:57. | |
an A-level history student could be confused by some of the debates. If | :30:58. | :31:04. | |
you look through the corn laws or a gunboat diplomacy, trying to build | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
trade and open markets, it feels like an A-level student will be | :31:09. | :31:14. | |
taught a trajectory more open free trade. It seems like a good thing. | :31:15. | :31:22. | |
In a time of uncertainty, the thing that I'm perhaps most concerned | :31:23. | :31:25. | |
about is Donald Trump's comments in relation to trade. At a time when | :31:26. | :31:32. | |
there is uncertainty about QE, sub-prime, eurozone collapse, and I | :31:33. | :31:38. | |
could go on. But actually, I think we need to take responsibility, | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
whether it is G7, G20, the big nation states, to not only look for | :31:43. | :31:45. | |
a free trade for our own benefit but to look at free-trade for other | :31:46. | :31:50. | |
benefits, particularly in the Commonwealth and Africa, which I | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
will come to if I have time. Since I have been in this house in 2005, we | :31:55. | :32:03. | |
have gone from exporting 48% of our goods to outside Europe, to 56%. The | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
growth areas are beyond the European Union. I raised an intervention to | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
the shadow front bench, the issue of us importing more than we are | :32:15. | :32:18. | |
exporting. Quite understandably in the UK, we look at Brexit from our | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
own position because we voted on it, we wanted it, as a nation. There | :32:24. | :32:28. | |
were clearly debates across the parties on all sides. I think | :32:29. | :32:31. | |
thinking more about the German exporters of BMW's, or Prasad echo | :32:32. | :32:41. | |
and champagne etc, we look at it from a European perspective. I think | :32:42. | :32:47. | |
Brexit could seem close to being delivered. I mentioned the | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
Commonwealth. I meant -- welcome the Department's meeting of trade | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
ministers. I was fortunate enough to attend some of those early meetings. | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
There was a real appetite to refresh what should have been happening | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
anyway, but Brexit allows us to refresh the relationships with the | :33:06. | :33:09. | |
Commonwealth. In Africa more generally I'm glad we are taking a | :33:10. | :33:12. | |
step back from the European partnership agreements and would | :33:13. | :33:16. | |
encourage the government, particularly this department, to | :33:17. | :33:19. | |
pursue government policies overall in terms of growing countries out of | :33:20. | :33:26. | |
poverty, which has a great impact on us in terms of cutting migration, | :33:27. | :33:29. | |
cutting terrorism and growing people out of poverty. And that, quite | :33:30. | :33:34. | |
frankly, is as important, if not more important, than getting a | :33:35. | :33:36. | |
short-term benefit of the trade exports. It is a very good | :33:37. | :33:44. | |
opportunity. I do express some concern about the way the department | :33:45. | :33:47. | |
is organised at a time when the Foreign Office at ministerial level | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
is joining with Dyfed so there is a united approach. I think they are | :33:52. | :33:57. | |
taking a regional, country by country approach. The trade envoys | :33:58. | :34:04. | |
will be country approach. However, ministers are taking a more | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
secretary liberals. When I was on the Gold Coast, gold miners would | :34:11. | :34:13. | |
come to me and ask me about the country, how easy it was to do | :34:14. | :34:17. | |
business. But they wouldn't ask about technology and gold and so | :34:18. | :34:21. | |
forth. They would ask about more regional issues and doing business. | :34:22. | :34:28. | |
But perhaps in the round government can provide these services. I would | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
love to see more of the high-value opportunity study, which we can | :34:35. | :34:40. | |
leveraged. The blockage should be freed up and we should appoint more | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
trade envoys as soon as possible. Maiden speech, Karen Lee. | :34:48. | :34:58. | |
An area which covers not only the city of Lincoln but also the | :34:59. | :35:05. | |
surrounding villages of Scunthorpe and Warrington East. I'm proud to | :35:06. | :35:09. | |
have been elected and have the chance to serve my city. Being | :35:10. | :35:12. | |
Lincoln through and through, in electing me as member of Parliament, | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
Lincoln have truly elected one of their own. I will ensure the people | :35:17. | :35:19. | |
of Lincoln that I will be their voice in Westminster. Until just a | :35:20. | :35:25. | |
few wakes ago I was in NHS nurse. Having worked in the NHS on -- since | :35:26. | :35:32. | |
2003, I am aware of the challenges a running down of the service means | :35:33. | :35:35. | |
for health workers and my constituents. I am proud to have | :35:36. | :35:39. | |
been part of the Labour led city council and watched its many | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
positive achievements, including the new transport hub currently | :35:45. | :35:46. | |
undergoing construction in the city centre. As a local councillor, I | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
have witnessed the impact of cuts on budgets and how austerity for some | :35:52. | :35:54. | |
has caused untold misery for the many but not the few. At the | :35:55. | :35:58. | |
beginning of the general election campaign, it was on tear if I would | :35:59. | :36:01. | |
be standing here today making this speech, but Lincoln and its citizens | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
have a history of defying the odds. From the development of the first | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
tank during World War I by determined engineers, to the runaway | :36:11. | :36:15. | |
success of the Lincoln City football club recently, who took the FA Cup | :36:16. | :36:19. | |
to the Emirates Stadium last season, Lincoln has a proud history of going | :36:20. | :36:22. | |
the extra mile. Who would've thought that just a few weeks ago Lincoln | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
would elect one of its own, born and bred, working class citizens as a | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
Thampi to Henry VIII looted Lincoln's Cathedral of its treasures | :36:33. | :36:38. | |
in 1538. Over the last seven years, the Tories' austerity programme has | :36:39. | :36:42. | |
seen a similar looting of services in Lincoln and an increase in social | :36:43. | :36:46. | |
inequality. Our public services, including the local hospital where I | :36:47. | :36:49. | |
worked as a nice, are under tremendous pressure because of the | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
current austerity for some. Likewise, there is huge pressure | :36:56. | :36:59. | |
with the closure of local GP practices. Since my first day in | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
Parliament I have been inundated with messages of concern from | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
residents worried about the possible closure of a walk-in centre. Every | :37:09. | :37:10. | |
day I went to work I witnessed first-hand the strain Lincoln A | :37:11. | :37:18. | |
was under. Chronically shortage -- chronically short of doctors and | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
nurses... As a single parent in 2000, I relied upon the nursing | :37:24. | :37:26. | |
bursary to undertake my training. During my election campaign I | :37:27. | :37:30. | |
visited some of the city's food banks, again a testament to the | :37:31. | :37:33. | |
stark poverty found in parts of Lincoln. Surely in 2017 the need for | :37:34. | :37:42. | |
food banks in the world's fifth richest country is proof of the | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
inequality present. Hard-working people just about managing, people | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
sleeping on the streets, are just as much the norm in Lincoln as many | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
other areas of this country. Over a quarter of all Lincoln children, in | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
some areas of Lincoln, live in poverty. Yet Theresa May has found | :38:02. | :38:04. | |
the key to the magic money tree which has enabled her to find over | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
?1 billion to keep government in power, proving that austerity is | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
indeed an ideological choice and not a necessity. Madame Deputy Speaker, | :38:15. | :38:18. | |
Lincoln has two great universities which we are very proud of, both of | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
which recently achieved the highest rating possible in a new national | :38:23. | :38:24. | |
assessment for the quality of teaching, learning of student | :38:25. | :38:28. | |
achievement in UK higher education. Yet many of the student to live in | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
our city struggle with a mountain of debt because they are paying huge | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
tuition fees, and living privately rented homes which are often poorly | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
maintained, paying high rents which increased the mad of debt they queue | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
Millett. How can that be fair? During my time in this House I will | :38:47. | :38:49. | |
strive to represent Lincoln and all that that is good about it. But I | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
will also champion because of those left without a voice and left | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
behind. And I hope that when my time here is done, Lincoln is a fairer | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
and more equal place for all of its residents. Members may know that | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
Lincoln boasts a stunning Gothic cathedral, and even -- medieval | :39:05. | :39:14. | |
castle and historical quarter... However, perhaps fewer members know | :39:15. | :39:18. | |
that 2017, the year of my election, marks the 800th anniversary of the | :39:19. | :39:22. | |
Charter of the forest, signed in Lincoln and on display in Lincoln | :39:23. | :39:27. | |
Castle. Tradition has it that I mention my predecessor, Karl | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
McCartney. He was a strong advocate for transport and its infrastructure | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
within the city and its surrounding area. Lincoln is still struggling to | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
cope with the heavy demands placed on a modern city. And as part of my | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
election pledges, I will continue the work that Karl contributed to | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
and look forward to positive and effective relationships with the | :39:50. | :39:53. | |
county and city councils and other stakeholders to find the solution is | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
to keep Lincoln moving. I would like to pay tribute to Gillian Merrin, | :39:59. | :40:04. | |
Lincoln's MP from 1997 to 2010, who worked incredibly hard for Lincoln | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
and achieve much for our city. Turning to Brexit, Lincoln voted | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
overwhelmingly to leave. Whilst there will be significant | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
implications for trade, employment and services, the decision to leave | :40:19. | :40:21. | |
was a democratic one and our task is to ensure we get the best possible | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
deal for everyone. Lincoln has a guard -- large European country -- | :40:28. | :40:30. | |
community. We need to ensure EU nationals are protected. In closing, | :40:31. | :40:36. | |
Madame Deputy Speaker, I want to restate my hope and aspirations for | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
Lincoln as its MP. I will campaign hard to get a medical school in | :40:41. | :40:43. | |
Lincoln which will attract the doctors we so desperately need to | :40:44. | :40:47. | |
start to address the crisis in our local NHS. I will work with local | :40:48. | :40:50. | |
councils, business and community stakeholders to attract the funding | :40:51. | :40:54. | |
and transport networks and infrastructure which will bring jobs | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
and training my constituents so badly need after seven years of Tory | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
austerity. And I will campaign for extra housing to be built in | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
addition to the plan by the Labour led City Council which will benefit | :41:07. | :41:09. | |
local families and those unfortunate enough to be homeless. And finally, | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
and this comes from the heart, I hope that by the end of this | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
Parliament, however long it lasts, the indignity and suffering and | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
jawed by those who have to use one of Lincoln's many food banks is | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
something that was just bad memory and not a fact of daily life. Adam | :41:25. | :41:31. | |
Davies figure, it is a pleasure to follow the new member for Lincoln. I | :41:32. | :41:37. | |
congratulate her on her passionate maiden speech. Many of us will also | :41:38. | :41:44. | |
remember her predecessor fondly. This debate is at the heart of the | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
challenge for us all in this Parliament. For while leaving the EU | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
is by no means the only task before us, many of our constituents have a | :41:54. | :41:56. | |
clearer focus perhaps on seeing the local school and hospital well | :41:57. | :42:01. | |
funded. Their own standard of living gradually increasing. But if we lose | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
our access and free trade with the EU and fail to grow our global | :42:06. | :42:08. | |
business to compensate, then much else is at risk. Because business | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
generates directly and indirectly 75% of our total tax revenue that | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
funds vital services. And that also means that for all of us who voted | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
against leaving the EU, there is a particular responsibility not to sit | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
back in our chairs and say, I told you it would be a disaster, rather | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
to do our best in making sure that this process works and succeeds. | :42:35. | :42:40. | |
There are jobs, the economy and ultimately the lives of our | :42:41. | :42:44. | |
constituents, are at stake. If I ask Remainers to be pragmatic in seeking | :42:45. | :42:47. | |
the opportunities and not overplaying the risks, I would also | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
ask Leavers to be pragmatic in their approach. The big one example. The | :42:52. | :42:58. | |
Prime Minister did not commit us to a position on the Customs Union. She | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
said, I want Britain to negotiate its own trade agreements but I also | :43:03. | :43:05. | |
want tariff free trade with Europe. And she went on to say, whether that | :43:06. | :43:12. | |
means we must reach a completely new customs union agreement, become an | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
associate member become a signatory to some elements, I have an open | :43:17. | :43:21. | |
mind, which is not the means that matter but the ends. And so the | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
Secretary of State was right earlier today to focus on prosperity as his | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
guiding light. What works best for business is what will be best for | :43:31. | :43:35. | |
us. Because it is business that has delivered the 2.9 million new jobs | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
since 2010, more than all the other 27 new nations together. Today we | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
should all rejoice that exports are up sharply and inward investment, I | :43:46. | :43:53. | |
think, is at record highs from 2016. It is a far cry from the prediction | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
made by some of 800,000 unemployed, deep recession and real economic | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
hardship by now. But nor should we be complacent. For the figures show | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
a strong surplus of exporting services and continued deficit in | :44:11. | :44:13. | |
traded goods. In a year of significant seat -- significant | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
currency depreciation we have to do more. It implies success in | :44:19. | :44:21. | |
retaining the more than 40% of trade with the EU, and success in | :44:22. | :44:23. | |
exporting high-growth markets. Let me touch on China as chairman of | :44:24. | :44:38. | |
the all-party group. I thank the honourable gentleman for giving way. | :44:39. | :44:44. | |
Can I compliment him on his work and on creating greater knowledge on | :44:45. | :44:49. | |
Hong Kong and could I touch on the trading relationships between the | :44:50. | :44:57. | |
two. I thank him for what he said. I am not going to talk too much about | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
Hong Kong and China but for the differences between the closeness, | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
but what I did want to mention is that our exports to China doubled | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
between 2010 and 2016, but they are dependent on a handful of companies | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
and what holds us back and where we have to make much greater progress | :45:21. | :45:26. | |
is on market access. With an excellent new director-general on | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
trade and investment in Beijing, I hope ministers will drive real | :45:31. | :45:34. | |
progress in the strategic partnership to deliver greater | :45:35. | :45:36. | |
access for British services in particular. I thank the honourable | :45:37. | :45:44. | |
member for accepting an intervention, and would he accept | :45:45. | :45:48. | |
that innovation universities should be an area that we should be | :45:49. | :45:51. | |
focusing on in the context of Brexit? I think she is absolutely | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
right in general and I was going to touch on the importance of education | :45:58. | :46:04. | |
and that has to be innovation lead. Lots of other technologies are all | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
areas where we can do much more. Meanwhile, total exports in the last | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
year of which we got complete figures were up 4% with exports to | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
Indonesia and the Philippines up stronger while Malaysians exports | :46:20. | :46:26. | |
dropped slightly and we know that goods exports in the last six months | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
rose 83%, which demonstrates that this progress was not just a flash | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
in the wok. We have real success particularly with business services | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
and insurance, but also with medical technologies and educational | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
technologies. It is worth noting in general that we sell more in | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
education and in insurance now and our partnerships on education in | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
Malaysia are strong examples of what can be done, it remains a strong | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
goal for us as a nation but also a dream of mine to establish a British | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
university in both the Philippines and Indonesia. This matters because | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
one of the joys of doing business in Asia in general is that long | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
relationships and trust drive business as much as the quality of | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
the product and the transaction itself, and relationships start | :47:21. | :47:27. | |
early. They start at schools an universities and it will be our | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
education presents that enable us to catch up with our main European | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
competitors of Germany and France while retaining our advantages in | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
services. This is also where I believe we should not include | :47:42. | :47:44. | |
students in our immigration figures, because to do so would loose an | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
impression of not welcoming foreign shootings and secondly, our | :47:51. | :47:52. | |
universities growth in foreign students has been well below those | :47:53. | :48:00. | |
like the US, Canada and Australia and this is an opportunity we can | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
seize. The prosperity fund will play a key role in growing our bilateral | :48:06. | :48:08. | |
business opportunities and I encourage ministers to ask posts to | :48:09. | :48:14. | |
involve trade envoys. The Minister knows that not long ago we had three | :48:15. | :48:21. | |
trade envoys and I hope he will encouraged the Prime Minister will | :48:22. | :48:28. | |
encourage additional agreements who can take the bilateral edition ships | :48:29. | :48:37. | |
to include businesses. Madam Deputy Speaker, in recent years British | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
businesses have made great strides in Asian markets, we partner with | :48:42. | :48:47. | |
Indonesians to win airport we refuelling contracts, provide | :48:48. | :48:54. | |
teacher training in Borneo, advise on air-traffic management, | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
engineering consultancy and rail projects for hospitals. We equip | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
their alliance with engines and most of the most exciting part of their | :49:03. | :49:09. | |
bus aircraft. While setting out a factory and a new velodrome and much | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
more besides to help make the Jakarta -based station games in 2018 | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
a success. There is much we are doing in the world's fifth-largest | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
country, the country described as the biggest invisible thing on earth | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
but not remotely unknown to us and it is one example of what we do in | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
Indonesia of realising great opportunities in Asia in its 50th | :49:32. | :49:36. | |
anniversary year. This is a region where the great campaign is well | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
recognised, the union Jack is strong and the London showcase the best. As | :49:41. | :49:47. | |
I have indicated we can do much more but we built on strong foundations | :49:48. | :49:50. | |
and let us not be shy to tell our story and do more. To make his | :49:51. | :50:01. | |
maiden speech, James Stone. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and can I | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
congratulate you on your appointment. It is a great honour to | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
speak in this House. I am the first member of my stone family ever to be | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
elected as an MP and I'd like to think standing here of my mother and | :50:17. | :50:19. | |
father looking down on me with pride. I also owe thanks to my wife | :50:20. | :50:26. | |
and my three children, without their support and great help I think the | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
likelihood of my being elected would have then a rather smaller. It is | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
customary in this House to make mention of my predecessor. Doctor | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
Paul Monaghan is a passionate nationalist and while he took a very | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
close interest in Middle East matters, the welfare of the | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
ex-inhabitants of the Chagos Islands and in animal welfare, this is his | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
record and I acknowledge it and thank him for it. In addition, I | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
must make mention of my great friend who once represented part of my | :51:02. | :51:04. | |
constituency, the late Charles Kennedy. Much missed and by the in | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
particular, never forgotten. I was for a time his constituency | :51:12. | :51:18. | |
chairman. It is the second largest and most remote constituency on UK | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
mainland. It is for this reason that it presents special challenges to | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
the Scottish Government and to the UK Government. Sparse population, | :51:27. | :51:33. | |
distance, severe winter weather, or necessitate a different approach | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
being taken to the delivery of vital services. What works in Surrey or | :51:38. | :51:41. | |
Glasgow Warriors not necessarily, to work where I come from. It is for | :51:42. | :51:47. | |
this reason that in my constituency, recent changes to the local | :51:48. | :51:52. | |
maternity services involving increased numbers of pregnant | :51:53. | :51:56. | |
mothers having to make a 200 mile round-trip to give birth of causing | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
the very greatest concern. So within the rules of this House pertaining | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
to devolved Scottish Government matters, I do give notice that this | :52:09. | :52:12. | |
issue is of the greatest importance to me and that I shall use my role | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
as an MP to do everything in my power to address it. Equally, the | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
access of suitable fast broadband is proving to be a drag anchor to many | :52:23. | :52:28. | |
local businesses in my constituency. It is unfortunate when trying to | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
promote tourism in this most beautiful area, the importance of | :52:34. | :52:38. | |
operating online efficiently cannot be over exaggerated. If local | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
tourist businesses are to compete globally, they depend on this type | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
of service. Again, I give notice of the importance of this object to me. | :52:47. | :52:54. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker, my constituency have had interesting | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
history. For instance, I am prepared to do that that members of this | :53:01. | :53:07. | |
House do not know that he whose portrait hangs amongst others in the | :53:08. | :53:14. | |
strangers dining room, Charles James Fox, was the member of my hometown | :53:15. | :53:20. | |
is still this is because in the 1784 general election, he fought a | :53:21. | :53:28. | |
campaign to win his seat here. He was helped by the great beauty of | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
his age, the Duchess of Devonshire. Strongly suspected to be his lover | :53:36. | :53:39. | |
but it was to be to no avail. Owing to legal challenges the result they | :53:40. | :53:47. | |
unconfined for over a year. Fox suspected that his distant cousin | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
George III lay behind this stratagem and it only served to deepen his | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
dislike for George III. But Fox had cunning friends. They dreamt up a | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
wheeze and this is what it was, they made him a purchase of a Cockrell, a | :54:03. | :54:08. | |
free man and because of that, he was very quickly elected to the pocket | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
borough of Tain and the northern virus. He represented my hometown | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
until his Westminster result was cleared and then he resigned. I | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
would say with that my own efforts to be elected to represent my | :54:25. | :54:29. | |
hometown was as easy as Charles James Fox's. I could elaborate on | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
the fact that Malcolm O'Donnell stood for my constituency and indeed | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
the uncle of the right honourable member for East Sussex, Randolph | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
Churchill, but that given the time available we will say for another | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
day. I am sorry that the honourable member Angus Brendan is not here. | :54:51. | :54:57. | |
Because I want to quote in Gaelic term use your good self and to test | :54:58. | :55:07. | |
Hansard. We have a saying, it is this, the mighty Khan is built of | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
little stones. I do hope that this particular stone, myself, may play a | :55:14. | :55:17. | |
suitable part in the mighty can that is to in this special place. Thank | :55:18. | :55:27. | |
you. It is a particular pleasure to follow the maiden speech of the | :55:28. | :55:32. | |
honourable member. It was impressive, it was elegant and it | :55:33. | :55:39. | |
was informative all at the same time, and I enjoyed it being the | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
descendants of RMN, myself who perhaps found themselves further | :55:46. | :55:57. | |
south. I know the honourable member and I will be pleased to have seen | :55:58. | :56:00. | |
that reference and I know that the House and all of us will look | :56:01. | :56:04. | |
forward to hearing a great deal from the honourable gentleman in the | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
future. Can I turn to the comments made earlier by my honourable friend | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
for Gloucester. I take the same approach as he did. I believed it | :56:16. | :56:20. | |
was right this country remained in the European Union. The decision is | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
taken. It is our job on all sides to be pragmatic about how we deliver it | :56:26. | :56:29. | |
and that needful give and take on both sides is one that must be very | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
family recognise. This must be a Brexit that works for the 48% just | :56:35. | :56:41. | |
as much as for the 52% and it is important we bear that in mind. In | :56:42. | :56:47. | |
practical terms, that does involve us being open minded as to the | :56:48. | :56:50. | |
nature of the deals which we come to as really. No one party's and if | :56:51. | :56:57. | |
this division attained a majority in this House. This House itself, | :56:58. | :57:01. | |
therefore, has a right to use shape the nature of our leaving and the | :57:02. | :57:09. | |
nature of our future relationship. I endorse and agree with my honourable | :57:10. | :57:12. | |
friend in relation to the customs union. It seems to me logical that | :57:13. | :57:19. | |
we should rule out a position that will put us in a worse position than | :57:20. | :57:24. | |
Turkey, for examples. In relation to the position of foreign students, as | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
a London MP I see the great benefit of the talent that comes into our | :57:30. | :57:35. | |
universities and the City of London, its financial services and our | :57:36. | :57:38. | |
public services as well. I hope we can see some flexibility there and I | :57:39. | :57:47. | |
would also add because my honourable friend for Wantage, we need to look | :57:48. | :57:51. | |
afresh at your atom. It seems illogical to exclude ourselves from | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
something which is fro much to our technological advantage and where it | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
is perfectly possible to be a non-EU member, because Israel is a member | :58:03. | :58:07. | |
and we should not look to put artificial obstacles of perhaps a | :58:08. | :58:11. | |
rather theoretic and will theological kind in the way of a | :58:12. | :58:15. | |
good practical deal where it can be done. That brings me to the meat of | :58:16. | :58:22. | |
what I wanted to say which is about the financial services sector. I | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
refer to my register, some 36% of the constituents work in or around | :58:27. | :58:31. | |
the financial services sector and its supply chain and that is | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
critical to them is critical to the economy as well. Some 45 billion to | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
our economy is generated by the City of London alone never mind that | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
broader financial services sector across the whole of the UK employing | :58:47. | :58:52. | |
some 2.2 billion people. The total tax contribution of the financial | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
services sector is some 71 billion coming to our public services, so I | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
bear no truck with those of the opposition who criticise at the City | :59:03. | :59:10. | |
of London work. There is strategic national interests and it is | :59:11. | :59:13. | |
priority of our government as we seek the EU to safeguard it. That | :59:14. | :59:19. | |
requires a proper deal to deliver mutual market access. If that | :59:20. | :59:26. | |
requires some compromise around what form the adjudication or arbitration | :59:27. | :59:32. | |
arrangements make, so be it. It is much more important to the welfare | :59:33. | :59:36. | |
of this country that we have full and proper access for our financial | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
services sector and we argue about angels on the head of a needle about | :59:41. | :59:44. | |
Courts of Justice and elements of jurisdiction at the end of the day. | :59:45. | :59:50. | |
Modern global countries recognise the need to cooperate and share | :59:51. | :59:57. | |
jurisdiction. We should not rule that out as we go forward. Secondly, | :59:58. | :00:03. | |
it must involve meaningful and early transitional arrangements. Not once | :00:04. | :00:09. | |
which are said to any arbitrary timescale, like finishing within two | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
years, three years, whatever. The transition arrangements must be as | :00:15. | :00:18. | |
long as it takes to do the job for the financial services sector. The | :00:19. | :00:25. | |
deal we made with the British people was to respect the outcome of the | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
referendum, not on how long the top. It is well established that some | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
elements of financial contracts, some elements of the financial | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
sector, if we look at derivatives as opposed to insurance, at different | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
rates of transitional arrangements may be necessary for each of those | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
sectors. We should be flexible. Finally, we must continue to have | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
access to global tariffs. The issue of students has been referred to. | :00:51. | :00:58. | |
The issue of postal workers. The same applies to London's position as | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
a great international law centre, the ability to move lawyers between | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
multi-map -- -- multinational firms is critical. I say to the | :01:08. | :01:14. | |
government, you have my support in doing that but we must do this in a | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
way which put a businesslike outcome, the prosperity of this | :01:20. | :01:27. | |
country above any questions of ideologies or academic | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
consideration. To Aker maiden speech, Danielle Rowley. Thank you, | :01:34. | :01:42. | |
calling me to make my maiden speech. I would like first to congratulate | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
my honourable friend, the member for Lincoln, on a fantastic maiden | :01:48. | :01:50. | |
speech and I share a passion for constituents. And my fellow Scot, | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
the honourable member for a Caithness, Sutherland and Easter | :01:57. | :01:59. | |
Ross on his speech. I would like to echo his sentiments on the legacy of | :02:00. | :02:03. | |
Charles Kennedy. We have heard passionate contributions from | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
members today. During this Brexit process we must get the best deal | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
for the economy, protect jobs and defend the rights of EU nationals. I | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
will be fighting for that on behalf of my constituents in Midlothian and | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
I thank them for sending me here to do that. I must pay tribute to my | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
predecessor, Owen Thompson, who worked hard to represent Midlothian. | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
I'm sure his contribution will be remembered well. I thank him for his | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
congratulations and the warm and friendly way in which we conduct our | :02:34. | :02:37. | |
campaign. In his maiden speech, he wore his Midlothian tartan tie and | :02:38. | :02:44. | |
spoke of the Green representing the landscape, blew the reservoirs and | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
black which represents the coal Midlothian. He remarked that he was | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
the first non-minor in a long time, since the Second World War, to be | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
elected to represent Midlothian. I want to make two points on that. I | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
have another first. I am the first woman to be elected to serve | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
Midlothian. And that I am very proud indeed. And secondly, Madam Deputy | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
Speaker, although you can see that I myself am not a minor, I'm proud to | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
come from mining stock. Both of my grandfathers having worked down the | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
mines. Keeping that strong Midlothian tradition alive. I was | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
honoured to receive support from my local retired miners group. Speaking | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
of former miners representing Midlothian. I would like to pay | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
tribute to to former members I had the honour -- have the honour of | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
knowing. Sir David Hamilton and Erik Kynard. Eric said in his maiden | :03:42. | :03:47. | |
speech, I am proud to be a socialist in the trade unionists, and I am | :03:48. | :03:49. | |
brave lads to be carrying on that mantle. I am very grateful to David | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
for helping me with my campaign. And I must say that I have run out of | :03:55. | :04:00. | |
paper with the list of people in this house from all sides who have | :04:01. | :04:03. | |
asked me to pass on their warm wishes to Eric and David. I know it | :04:04. | :04:11. | |
is tradition to talk about a history of one's constituency in your maiden | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
speech, but I feel those who've come before have done an outstanding job, | :04:18. | :04:26. | |
of Gladstone, Dolly the sheep... If I may, I would like to talk about | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
the people of Midlothian and what I hope to do for our future. On the | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
9th of June, the day after I was elected to serve, I spoke at a local | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
food bank. That was in Penny Cook. I talked to Mark, who told me his | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
personal story. When he found himself having to rely on a food | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
bank. He told me they didn't just give him the food he needed but | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
friendship and support and helped to develop a network. He now has helped | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
set up and run the food bank himself. His story reminded me of an | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
ethos I think is central to charity, central to the idea behind food | :05:04. | :05:07. | |
banks and something that should be central to the work that we carry | :05:08. | :05:10. | |
out here when we talk about helping people in need. That is a hand up, | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
not a hand-out macro. It is essential that we give people the | :05:17. | :05:19. | |
tools they need to live their lives to the full. And when I have worked | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
with people in various jobs who are receiving benefits or receiving | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
support from charity, that is what they want. They want support to do | :05:29. | :05:31. | |
things for themselves, not a hand-out, as some members of this | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
house and the media may have you believe. I'm sad to say that Mark | :05:37. | :05:40. | |
had to report last week that demand for the food bank has increased | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
again. With over 20 families a week using the service. He said that | :05:47. | :05:49. | |
people who come to the food bank cannot afford to feed their | :05:50. | :05:53. | |
families. Some have suffered from the benefit cap welfare reform, | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
others simply cannot feared -- feed their family on their low income. | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
And inadequate help from the government. This is an absolute | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
disgrace and something I will spend my tenure fighting for. I will be | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
fighting for good jobs, good wages, support for an young and elderly, | :06:13. | :06:17. | |
people with disabilities, and a hand up for those who fall on hard times | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
because it could happen to any of us. Midlothian is a strong and proud | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
community. Yes, we come together in solidarity and -- in times of | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
hardship. We did that during the miners' strike, we did when there | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
were job losses and we do it again. We have many fantastic people | :06:38. | :06:40. | |
comment together to celebrate and enjoy our committee. A youth | :06:41. | :06:47. | |
project, community radio, the cancelling community coffee morning | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
where I shared a cup of tea at the weekend with members of the | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
committee. Since being elected I have attended memory -- many | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
children's galleries. On polling day I received some nice soup and a roll | :06:59. | :07:05. | |
at a cafe for older people and their carers. I want to see projects like | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
this bring the community together. I started my speech by paying tribute | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
to Labour members Eric Clarke and David Hamilton. I would like to end | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
their wise words. Eric ended his speech by talking about the double | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
standards of having the few who were rich and the vast majority were | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
poor. David ended his speech by talking about labour standing up for | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
vulnerable people. He said those who would benefit along with all of us | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
not just the few. So although the phrase may have been stolen today by | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
members of the opposite bench, I'm going to reclaim it. I want to end | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
an echo those sentiments, Madam Deputy Speaker, and say that I am | :07:47. | :07:49. | |
proud to have been elected here to represent the people of Midlothian | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
on a platform of hope, and with the message that I am joining my friends | :07:55. | :07:57. | |
on these benches to fight for the many, not the few. | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
Order. I have given as much time as I could to the many excellent maiden | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
speeches this afternoon. But I now have to reduce the time limit to | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
five minutes. James Cartlidge. Is a pleasure to follow the honourable | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
lady from Midlothian. I congratulate her on her fine maiden speech. She | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
speaks with great passion, which shines through, and I'm sure she | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
will be a fine asset to the people of Midlothian. I am also very | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
pleased to follow my honourable friend from Bromley and Chislehurst. | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
Some of the points I make will be similar. I wanted to start by | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
setting in the context of my constituency. I am optimistic about | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
this country outside the EU wanted has secured a comprehensive trade | :08:47. | :08:49. | |
agreement, which must include a services, where we mustn't forget, | :08:50. | :08:53. | |
we have a ?20 billion surplus with the EU. When I go around my | :08:54. | :09:01. | |
constituency companies are optimistic. There is a company I | :09:02. | :09:04. | |
will be visiting next Friday, they are opening a new plant. Not a | :09:05. | :09:07. | |
household name but they have a household name product. Speaking to | :09:08. | :09:16. | |
their boss, they are optimistic if they have trade deals, about selling | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
to countries outside the EU. I think there is a great future for this | :09:21. | :09:24. | |
country when we get to that stage. But there are concerns in my | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
constituency. Our biggest manufacturing employer in the town | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
of Sudbury is a company which is a major exporter to the EU, currently | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
consulting on its plant closure, which would mean the loss of 520 | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
full-time skilled jobs in Sudbury. I am grateful to my honourable friend, | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
the member for wire first, for the help he has given me to try to work | :09:49. | :09:51. | |
with the company to find a way forward. But I think my concern is, | :09:52. | :09:58. | |
in the event, and I hope it doesn't happen, that that firm was to close, | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
we have got to sort out how we attract new business in to replace | :10:04. | :10:10. | |
them. New inward investment. We have fantastic and figures -- figures on | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
inward investment. If we want to attract new inward investment, I | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
agree with other honourable members that we must avoid that Cliff edge | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
at all costs. I think it was the honourable member for West Bromwich | :10:22. | :10:24. | |
West two are referred to the automotive industry, which includes | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
my company that I have been talking about. And I called the CEO of the | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
Society of motor Manufacturers and traders. He says, we accept we are | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
leaving the European Union. But our biggest fear is that in two years we | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
fall off a cliff edge, no deal, outside the single market and | :10:45. | :10:47. | |
Customs union and trading on inferior in world trade rules. He is | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
worry is that will hit our ability to attract investment that is | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
critical to future growth. That is my concern. My concern is that | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
basically we are not taking seriously and off the threat of | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
leaving the EU without a deal. In my opinion, the whole issue of a | :11:05. | :11:07. | |
transition should be something for cross-party support because we | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
should realise that the national interest at this moment is served by | :11:12. | :11:22. | |
trying to have a transitional deal in the event that we don't have our | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
new trade deal are renting time. Where I grew with my honourable | :11:26. | :11:27. | |
friend strongly is this point that you don't move from one cliff edge | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
to set up another. To have a transitional deal with another | :11:31. | :11:32. | |
arbitrary time limit would be potentially foolish. It has to be | :11:33. | :11:34. | |
said, as I understand it, that is what the EU would want in any | :11:35. | :11:39. | |
transition. But I think we start by talking about our interests. The | :11:40. | :11:43. | |
best thing for this country would be to have a transitional deal that | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
lasts from when we leave until the time when a new deal is signed. That | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
seems to me common-sense and sensible. Two more points on the | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
issue of transition. There has been a lot of talk about that in recent | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
weeks. Any deal must be a trusted transitional deal. What I mean by | :12:00. | :12:03. | |
that is we mustn't use transition as some kind of Trojan hearse for | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
remaining. It mustn't be used as a way of fudging the issue of securing | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
a good long-term deal. A transition must be just that. Coming from where | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
we are now until we have a new comp rent of deal in place. It must be | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
trusted by both sides of this argument. Those of us who voted | :12:23. | :12:29. | |
Remain and those who voted Leave. I will make a final point. I noticed | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
today that al-Badya said there would been a negotiation and transition | :12:35. | :12:41. | |
until late 2018. -- Michel Barnier. To me it is extremely worrying. I | :12:42. | :12:44. | |
think that as a parliament trying to come together around a position we | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
can agree on, and I think the transitional deal is part of that, I | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
think we should be trying to look at how we pressure for potentially even | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
a parallel process, so that in the event that this country does not | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
secure a deal by March 2019, it has an insurance policy in place to | :13:03. | :13:08. | |
ensure business stability, business confidence, is maintained and we | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
don't crash out and affect our economic future. Thank you, Madam | :13:12. | :13:17. | |
Deputy Speaker. I would like to congratulate the honourable member | :13:18. | :13:20. | |
for Midlothian on their excellent speech and the priorities she has | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
set herself. I would also like to take this opportunity to | :13:26. | :13:28. | |
congratulate the member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter | :13:29. | :13:30. | |
Ross and a very confident and polished maiden speech, and clearly | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
that particular stone will be playing a role, a significant role, | :13:35. | :13:41. | |
in the Ken of democracy. Madam Deputy Speaker, I'm disappointed | :13:42. | :13:43. | |
that the Secretary of State isn't here. I would have pointed out to | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
him that the business of attacking national broadcasters is something | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
that Putin and Trump do. It is not something our Secretary of State | :13:53. | :14:00. | |
should be doing. Will he join me in welcoming Robbie Gibb from the BBC, | :14:01. | :14:08. | |
who has gone to be director of communications at Number 10? I'm | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
sure there is some excellent cross-fertilisation going on. Of | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
course I do congratulate him on his new role. As the Minister will know, | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
the Liberal Democrats favour staying in the single market and customs | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
union, and we're disappointed the government made no -- no attempt to | :14:25. | :14:27. | |
secure that while talking to the other European coaches about freedom | :14:28. | :14:28. | |
of movement. What we need to hear from the | :14:29. | :14:37. | |
Minister is what his assessment of the cost of leaving the single | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
market and the customs union is going to be. What is the cost of no | :14:42. | :14:49. | |
deal, a bad deal and a good deal? We have heard from the Secretary of | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
State for Exiting the European Union that he cannot tell us what the cost | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
is because we do not know what the deal is, yet we hear that leaving | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
the EU will be brilliant, a bonanza for British business. They can tell | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
us that but they cannot tell us what the cost of leaving with a bad or no | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
Deal is going to be, and we need to hear that from the minister or is | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
there just a cover-up going on? We also need to hear what the | :15:21. | :15:25. | |
Minister's expectation is in terms of the deal is struck once we leave? | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
How many deals does the Minister expect will be secured in the first | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
year, the second year, the third, or the 50 year? We have heard from | :15:36. | :15:40. | |
other members what the average time is it takes to secure a trade deal. | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
What I would also like to here is some feedback on what the countries | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
with which the EU have already struck a deal or are about to | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
finalise a deal in relation to Canada, for instance, in relation to | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
South Korea, Japan, which is very close to securing that dear, I would | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
like to hear from them what their expectation is for how long it would | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
take to secure a new deal with the UK at some point in the future. | :16:12. | :16:18. | |
Also, given that informal discussions have started, we are | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
entitled to know what countries like China and India and Brazil have been | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
saying to the British government about their expectation of how many | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
more Chinese, Indian and Brazilian citizens will be able to come to the | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
UK on the back of those trade deals, because people will be interested to | :16:40. | :16:47. | |
know those facts. The Minister has heard from many contributors this | :16:48. | :16:53. | |
afternoon, the importance of freedom of movement, I am sure he will have | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
been lobbied by companies, organisations across the board in | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
terms of their concerns about the impact that restricting freedom of | :17:02. | :17:05. | |
movement will have, whether it is companies that innovate, or | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
companies like that in my constituency who are worried that | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
because they cannot gain access to engineers in the UK because we do | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
not have enough of them, they will find a number of engineers they rely | :17:20. | :17:23. | |
on from the EU, that number is already reducing because those | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
people are seeking opportunities elsewhere. They know it will cost | :17:28. | :17:30. | |
them more to secure engineers from outside the EU because they will | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
have to pay Visa costs for them, something that is already happening | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
to the recruitment of nurses, so my local hospital rather than | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
recruiting nurses from the EU who no longer want to come partly because | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
of the fall in the value of the pound, instead that hospital is | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
securing nurses from India and the Philippines and the differences they | :17:54. | :18:01. | |
are now paying roughly 1000 pounds a Visa, something they did not have to | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
pay when businesses were from the EU. We need to hear what the | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
Government are joined to embed in these trade deals, because we have | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
heard from the Secretary of State about the shared values that he has | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
with the Philippines, I do not have that many shared values with a | :18:21. | :18:27. | |
president who has gone round his country using extrajudicial killings | :18:28. | :18:32. | |
to dispose of drug dealers. Maybe the Secretary of State does have | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
shared values with him, but we need to hear from the Minister how he is | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
going to embed in these trade deals, issues like human rights, | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
environmental rules so that we know this is not going to be trade deal | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
secured at any cost and in fact we're going secure decent trade | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
deals, and I will finish on the subject of trade deals. Earlier I | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
asked the leader of the House to confirm whether the Government were | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
going to reveal whether the report into extremism, extremist funding in | :19:05. | :19:12. | |
the United Kingdom, whether that is something the Government are going | :19:13. | :19:16. | |
to release. I am worried it may not be released simply because of the | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
trade deals we have secured with Saudi Arabia which might be | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
jeopardised if that report is published. The last two speakers | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
have been very patient. They have only four minutes each. Thank you. I | :19:33. | :19:39. | |
wish to start by declaring an interest before entering this House. | :19:40. | :19:50. | |
I worked as a corporate lawyer in the city and also as a senior | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
executive at HSBC. I wish to talk specifically about financial | :19:58. | :20:03. | |
services in this debate post Brexit. I echo the words of my honourable | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
friend the member for Bromley and Chislehurst talking about the impact | :20:09. | :20:12. | |
and how how much of an asset financial services is to our | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
country, and I do not wish to repeat these statistics that he has | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
outlined, but they are all true. One thing that is worth considering is | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
why our financial services sector is such a world leader and one reason | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
is not just because it has been for a long time, but because of the | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
quite in-depth, unique infrastructure surrounding financial | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
services that makes Britain such a good place for this industry, | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
whether it be the lawyers, accountants, consultants and the | :20:45. | :20:48. | |
like. Those advantages are not going to change. But it is true, it is | :20:49. | :20:58. | |
true that business never likes uncertainty and there is undoubtedly | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
uncertainty in certain areas of our regulatory and legal framework | :21:05. | :21:06. | |
surrounding financial services, and I would like to just talk about two | :21:07. | :21:14. | |
of those areas. One area, possible team. As members will appreciate a | :21:15. | :21:19. | |
key area that has been outlined is the desire of this country to | :21:20. | :21:23. | |
continue to benefit from the single passport for financial services | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
which operates within member states of the EU, whereby a firm that | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
obtains authorisation to carry out an activity in Wanstead can carry | :21:33. | :21:36. | |
out such activity in other member states without further authorisation | :21:37. | :21:43. | |
and it would be good to hear from the Minister whether we intend to | :21:44. | :21:46. | |
try and maintain that position going forward. Another area worth | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
considering is an area of real uncertainty at the moment is on the | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
whole principle of equivalence. At the immediate point of exit, EU law | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
will form part of UK law and therefore as a matter of fact will | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
be equivalent. However it should not be controversial for the UK to keep | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
the bulk of EU financial regulation then in force as much of it was | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
either largely driven or even written by the UK or derived from | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
international accords of one kind or another. That is another area where | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
certainty for business would be appreciated and in particular, the | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
position around EU clearing of euros in the City of London is something | :22:36. | :22:42. | |
that is attracting a lot of concern. But having said that, the | :22:43. | :22:45. | |
uncertainty is there, but we need to make sure our reasonable concerns | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
does not lead us post Brexit and their long-term to try and keep | :22:51. | :22:56. | |
everything that we have now within the European Union is the same, and | :22:57. | :23:04. | |
why should that be as macro it would mean accepting wholesale a European | :23:05. | :23:07. | |
regulatory framework which we would no longer have a role in shaping and | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
which would consequently allowed the EU if perish the thought they wish | :23:14. | :23:19. | |
to cause us difficult see are our financial services sector and try to | :23:20. | :23:23. | |
stifle our activity. I do not have time to go into what I think their | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
vision for financial services should be post Brexit, which is a shame for | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
everybody, but all I would say is we need a transition, we need to get | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
there but we have a bright future for the financial services sector | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
after Brexit and I would like to hear from the Minister on those | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
points. It has been a pleasure to be in the chamber to hear some | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
excellent maiden speeches and if the House would indulge me I would like | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
to single out my honourable friend from Lincoln and Midlothian. It was | :23:57. | :24:01. | |
a pleasure to hear the Secretary of State extolled the virtues of free | :24:02. | :24:04. | |
trade, much of which I agree with. He is right that fair free trade | :24:05. | :24:11. | |
engenders prosperity and it also develops peas, it also develops | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
peace. If we are trading with somebody, we are not fighting with | :24:17. | :24:19. | |
them. That was precisely the reason why the EU was founded in the first | :24:20. | :24:28. | |
place. But he now wishes to move away from. I do think that Brexit is | :24:29. | :24:39. | |
going to be a disaster. I voted for Article 50 because my side lost the | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
referendum and I recognise that. I also stood on the manifesto to get | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
their best form of Brexit possible within those circumstances, but that | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
means a People's Brexit that promotes prosperity and jobs, | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
promotes environmental and is, workplace protections and of course | :24:58. | :25:05. | |
consumer protections. But I do say to the House whereas we will try and | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
get the best deal for the UK within Brexit, we cannot find a future | :25:12. | :25:19. | |
generations who may wish to get a different relationship including at | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
some point we joining the EU. The ideological push that is to an | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
extent being led by the more hard white Brexiteer is in the | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
Conservative Party to get the hardest deal come what may and I | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
don't think it is acceptable really the EU with no Deal, and if we do | :25:36. | :25:41. | |
come it will be down to the ministers who are negotiating that. | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
There is concern in the private sector about the uncertainty that is | :25:45. | :25:52. | |
generated by the current circumstances and there seems to me | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
and it necessity in the position we have. The automotive sector, once a | :25:56. | :26:05. | |
separate deal. The aerospace sector once a special deal, pharmaceuticals | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
once a special deal, chemicals, currently tussling with their reach | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
regulations want a separate deal, the nuclear industry wants a | :26:15. | :26:22. | |
separate deal. The honourable gentleman from Bromley told us about | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
City of London and the legal sector needing a special deal and he was | :26:27. | :26:30. | |
right in his speech. Higher education depends on funding and | :26:31. | :26:36. | |
academic collaboration. Agriculture once the sector deal. Hospitality | :26:37. | :26:44. | |
once a sector deal. Social care once a sector deal. I cannot help but | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
wonder when it might be that that light bulb will come on and instead | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
of having so many deals, one deal might be more appropriate. There is | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
a problem with the single market. We know free movement does cause, has | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
caused difficulties, but that can be addressed and I would finally make a | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
plea that the Government is in a weak position because of its | :27:11. | :27:13. | |
desperation to sign a free trade deal, any free trade deal with | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
anybody that we are not able to stand up for the values I thought we | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
all shared. So we not condemning President Trump over his walking | :27:25. | :27:32. | |
away from the Paris deal, we are getting into bed such as Rodrigo | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
Duterte of the Philippines. It is the failure to achieve decent terms | :27:37. | :27:43. | |
of our trade deal or understand what those terms will be is affecting our | :27:44. | :27:50. | |
foreign policy and is waking hour standing as a result. Labour is | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
pro-trade and pro-investment. The UK's prosperity depends on the | :27:57. | :28:10. | |
nontariff barriers. The negotiations for the exit of the United Kingdom | :28:11. | :28:14. | |
from the EU have already begun in our future prosperity as a nation is | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
dependent on our international trading Roshan ships. Of those, | :28:19. | :28:26. | |
clearly UK EU trade deal must be the Government's priority. A no deal | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
with the EU is the worst possible deal and must be ruled out. Anyone | :28:31. | :28:36. | |
who has run a business knows you look after your existing business | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
relationships first. If you do anything else, you do so at your | :28:42. | :28:46. | |
peril. I would like to turn to some of the comments of the speeches we | :28:47. | :28:48. | |
have heard today. A speech from the honourable member | :28:49. | :28:57. | |
for Livingston. She spoke of the transitional arrangements and the | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
question of how to deliver frictionless trade. The Right | :29:02. | :29:09. | |
Honourable member for Wantage, the first of the pro-Chancellor 's | :29:10. | :29:16. | |
speeches of the day. Of many pro-Chancellor 's speeches, given | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
the interesting relationship going on between the Chancellor and the | :29:25. | :29:27. | |
Brexit Secretary. My honourable member from West Bromwich West spoke | :29:28. | :29:34. | |
of the car industry and the need to ensure that we continue to support | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
car exports. He spoke of the damage no deal would do to that industry. | :29:40. | :29:44. | |
The honourable lady from Hornchurch and Upminster made her maiden | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
speech. I congratulate her on the enthusiastic way in which she spoke | :29:51. | :29:55. | |
about her constituency. My other friend from Bishop Auckland spoke | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
about the commitment that she has two her constituents, the need from | :30:00. | :30:10. | |
her constituents... She spoke of the importance to this country of the | :30:11. | :30:13. | |
European medicines agency as well as the need to support the hill farmers | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
in her constituency. The honourable member from Rochford and Southend | :30:20. | :30:21. | |
East, I think he was supporting the Brexit Secretary in this debate. My | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
honourable friend from Lincoln made an excellent and passionate speech. | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
And spoke about the importance of the the Department for Transport hub | :30:34. | :30:35. | |
delivered by the Labour council of which she has been part. And of | :30:36. | :30:39. | |
course that support for transport infrastructure is crucial to backing | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
the businesses and the jobs of her constituents, including those | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
involved in international trade. The honourable member from Gloucester | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
was clearly backing the Chancellor. The honourable gentleman from | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross reminded us of his late friend, | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
Charlie Kennedy, who was much respected by members across the | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
House. I congratulate him and is confident maiden speech. I enjoyed | :31:10. | :31:12. | |
his story about his predecessor, Charles James Fox. The honourable | :31:13. | :31:17. | |
member from Bromley and Chislehurst was with the Chancellor again. My | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
honourable friend from Midlothian made an excellent maiden speech. She | :31:23. | :31:29. | |
reminded us she is the first woman to represent her constituency, comes | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
from a family of minors and is keeping that tradition going. And I | :31:35. | :31:37. | |
was very pleased to hear she was elected like I was, on a platform of | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
hope for the many, not the few. The honourable member from South Suffolk | :31:43. | :31:49. | |
was clearly with the Chancellor. He gave a constituency example of the | :31:50. | :31:59. | |
dangers of a cliff edge exit and spoke of the importance of | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
transitional arrangements. We had a speech from the honourable member of | :32:04. | :32:08. | |
Carshalton and Wallington. And another from the honourable member | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
from Hitchin and Harpenden, who I think was backing the Chancellor as | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
well. We finish with a great speech from my honourable friend from the | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
City of Chester, who reminded us of the importance of fair and free | :32:24. | :32:31. | |
trade, how it engenders prosperity and peace. He, like me, will be | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
supporting a Brexit that promotes jobs as well as environmental and | :32:36. | :32:47. | |
consumer protection. The government have promised to deliver the exact | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
same benefits as we have inside the single market and customs union, and | :32:52. | :32:54. | |
Labour will hold them to account on this commitment. We recognise that | :32:55. | :33:00. | |
when we leave the European Union a transitional period is vital to | :33:01. | :33:02. | |
avoid a cliff edge for the UK economy. With respect to when the UK | :33:03. | :33:10. | |
has formally left the UK union, -- European Union, the government has | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
failed to set out a coherent trade strategy, and we have called upon | :33:15. | :33:17. | |
them to set out and International Trade White Paper. The UK needs | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
clarity on this as never before. It is not acceptable to take our | :33:24. | :33:26. | |
country forward into an uncertain future that includes exiting the EU | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
without a Combezou plan on International Trade. Such a plan | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
must be presented to and properly scrutinised by the British people | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
and their elected representatives in Parliament. If White Paper must set | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
out what the plans are for future international Trade, outlining | :33:50. | :33:52. | |
negotiating principles and trade policy objectives commented in which | :33:53. | :33:55. | |
industry sectors will be prioritised and which not. Verification of what | :33:56. | :34:00. | |
was meant in the Lancaster House speech by hybrid customs | :34:01. | :34:06. | |
arrangements need to be set out. The government says it intends to pursue | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
closer trade links with Commonwealth partners. This would make Frannie | :34:11. | :34:17. | |
lost trade with the EU, which accounts for 44% of exports. | :34:18. | :34:20. | |
However, none of our export partners is a Commonwealth country. The | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
Spring Budget statement reveals this government is out of ideas when it | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
comes to boosting our exports and tackling the productivity slump | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility. This is a government | :34:36. | :34:38. | |
that talks big on trade and Brexit but has failed to provide the | :34:39. | :34:41. | |
support for British businesses wishing to export and grow into new | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
markets. The latest ONS figures show that the UK's trading goods deficit | :34:47. | :34:53. | |
has increased by 2.6 billion. Our imports are on the rise while our | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
exporter failing to catch up. Despite the government's bombastic | :34:58. | :35:02. | |
talk of Britain leading the world as a trading nation, our trade | :35:03. | :35:04. | |
performance under their watch has been weak. British small and | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
medium-sized enterprises and trade bodies have repeatedly called on the | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
doubled to do more to deliver real support to potential exporters. The | :35:16. | :35:18. | |
government has ignored them. They focused instead on the big | :35:19. | :35:22. | |
corporations, and on arms sales. They have systematically delayed | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
funding for overseas trade shows and have over the years the creased the | :35:27. | :35:34. | |
budget funding for such funding. -- decreased. They should be | :35:35. | :35:37. | |
maintaining the trade show access programme and, crucially, delivering | :35:38. | :35:43. | |
it on time, not delaying it by four months as has just happened. The | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
government needs to maximise support for those wishing to export. It | :35:48. | :35:50. | |
needs to make clear what its mission is, what its vision of what trade | :35:51. | :35:55. | |
looks like it is, it needs to bring the White Paper forward and it will | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
need to say what its view is about transitional arrangements. How it | :36:00. | :36:02. | |
will deliver frictionless trade outside the EU, with the EU, and it | :36:03. | :36:12. | |
needs, above all, to put forward the promise of jobs and British | :36:13. | :36:15. | |
businesses first. Minister, Mr Greg Hands. Thank you, | :36:16. | :36:23. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker. Can I thank the first of all honourable and | :36:24. | :36:26. | |
right Honourable members for what has been a very useful debate. I | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
think 17 members have spoken in what has been the first general trade | :36:32. | :36:34. | |
debate since the formation of the department last summer. Madame | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
Deputy Speaker let us consider for the moment the significance of this | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
new department of state. It was ten years ago, almost to this month, | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
that Labour abolished the word trade from the name of any government | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
department whatsoever. One of Gordon Brown's very first decisions was to | :36:55. | :36:58. | |
eliminate the word trade entirely. So the creation of a new department | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
shows the determination of our Prime Minister to put trade at the heart | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
of government. And can I praise the free trade division of my right | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
honourable friend, the Secretary of State, and what he outlined earlier | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
today. First a few words on the foreign investment data, showing a | :37:20. | :37:21. | |
record-breaking number of FDI projects coming into the UK in the | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
financial year just finished. Inward investment into the UK are estimated | :37:27. | :37:33. | |
to have created or safeguarded nearly 108,000 jobs last year. | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
Madden Deputy Speaker, our trade officials have helped secure more | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
deals than ever before, up 7%. A big thank you to all of our staff around | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
the world. Can I just remind Labour that actually the trade deficit, | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
which I think they talked about at several points today, is actually | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
down considerably since the position we inherited in 2010. Down a | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
considerable 5.6 billion. At the same time, exports to the EU have | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
increased by 11.3%. Exports outside of the European Union have actually | :38:08. | :38:15. | |
increased by 34.6%. That is a very significant figure. We had calls for | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
the Labour opposition for clarity from the Gutmann. This from a party | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
whose leader calls free-trade a dogma, but the member for Brent | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
North says Labour are principled, free traders. We remember his | :38:29. | :38:36. | |
clarity on Sita. On the committee he supported. But then he called for a | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
Commons vote on it on a deferred division. On the Wednesday, you're | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
still is party to vote it down. But his own party rebelled against him | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
by a margin of 85 to 67. He says he is in favour of free trade, but he | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
seems to be against all freight -- free-trade deals. The final point he | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
may wish to note, he talked about his honourable friend, the member | :39:02. | :39:03. | |
for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland. He may not have been | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
watching on the 8th of June, but the member is now on the Conservative | :39:11. | :39:14. | |
benches. He is now my Anor boyfriend and not his. -- Honourable friend. | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
We had some excellent maiden speeches. First class maiden speech | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
from the member for Hornchurch and Upminster. She spoke with limited | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
nodes and she paid tribute to Dame Angela Watkinson, a friend of mine | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
and many others. She talked elegantly about Upminster, a place I | :39:36. | :39:38. | |
know well am a Madden Deputy Speaker. It is on the front of every | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
single train I take each morning on the district line. And I rarely get | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
there but I am looking forward to one-day actually visiting. She | :39:48. | :39:50. | |
mentioned the sale of council homes in London and how important it is | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
today. She presented a positive and uplifting vision for the future of | :39:56. | :39:57. | |
this great country. We thank and welcome. The Honourable Lady from | :39:58. | :40:08. | |
Lincoln spoke of her predecessors. She didn't mention Dick Taverna, who | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
left Labour to join the SDP. But from the content of speech, it | :40:15. | :40:17. | |
sounded like there was little chance of that happening with her. But I | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
congratulate her on her speech and welcome to this place. We heard from | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
the new member from Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, one of | :40:27. | :40:30. | |
the longest names and the second-largest consistency. A | :40:31. | :40:32. | |
constituency clearly knows well. I am sure that his predecessor but | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
one, the lead Charles Kennedy, would have been very proud of his speech | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
in this house today. We had from the lady, the new Honourable Lady, the | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
member for Midlothian. An accomplished maiden speech. It is | :40:47. | :40:50. | |
refreshing to hear Scottish actions coming back on the Labour benches. | :40:51. | :40:53. | |
She made some good points on welfare. I think we would all agree | :40:54. | :41:00. | |
that people need a hand up. We heard from Honourable members from stone, | :41:01. | :41:08. | |
East Gloucester... The Honourable member from stone mentioned the | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
Labour split on the single market. I have seen 11 Queens speeches. I have | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
occasionally seen a government rebellion on an opposition | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
amendment. But I have never seen an opposition amendment on an | :41:21. | :41:22. | |
opposition... I want to take an intervention. There is no time. We | :41:23. | :41:27. | |
heard from the member from Wantage, and entertaining speech, praising me | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
for my language split -- skills. She asked which countries we have ten | :41:33. | :41:36. | |
working groups covering 15 countries. He talked about the | :41:37. | :41:39. | |
timetable. We talked about the analysis of the increase in GDP. | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
Those will be things that it is impossible to tell at the minute | :41:45. | :41:46. | |
because it is impossible to tell what will be in those agreements. | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
The Honourable member from Southend East pointed out the increase in | :41:52. | :41:54. | |
value of our exports to outside of the EU, since he were -- he and I | :41:55. | :42:00. | |
were first elected in 2005. He is also right on the trade deficit. My | :42:01. | :42:03. | |
honourable friend from Gloucester said he was -- said, he was right, | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
that those of us who campaigned for a Leave or Remain, the importance is | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
to seek the best outcome for the UK to succeed in the negotiations. I | :42:15. | :42:18. | |
praise him for the work he does in Southeast Asia and the importance of | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
China. My honourable friend from Bromley, and my honourable friend | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
from Hitchin and Harpenden, mention the importance of financial | :42:31. | :42:33. | |
services. We are in a strong position. The city needs access to | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
European customs. But European borrowers and investors also need | :42:39. | :42:42. | |
access to the largest capital market in the European time zone, which is | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
the city of London. That is very important to remember as well. We | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
have heard from opposition members for Carshalton and Warrington, West | :42:51. | :42:56. | |
Brompton West and the City of Chester, all good speeches. Trade is | :42:57. | :42:59. | |
now back at the heart of comment policy making. And I hope that all | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
members will agree am back where it belongs. For the first time the | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
three pillars of trade, finance, promotion and policy, fall under one | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
roof, allowing us to approach trade in the most coordinated way | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
possible. Our three objectives are worth reiterating. And their | :43:17. | :43:19. | |
simplicity should not detract from their significance. We will promote | :43:20. | :43:24. | |
British exports the world over. We will encourage inward and outward | :43:25. | :43:27. | |
investment. And we will build the strongest possible trading framework | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
for the UK post Brexit. Finally, Madden Deputy Speaker, this country | :43:33. | :43:33. | |
has a great free-trade future. | :43:34. | :43:46. | |
I am optimistic about a good ad, the Brexit negotiations. And I am | :43:47. | :43:48. | |
looking forward, the whole department is looking forward to | :43:49. | :43:50. | |
growing trade and investment in the years to come. The question is that | :43:51. | :43:53. | |
this House has considered exiting the European Union and global trade. | :43:54. | :44:01. | |
As many of that opinion say eye... The ayes have it. The ayes have it. | :44:02. | :44:10. | |
I beg you move this housed in our journal. The question is that this | :44:11. | :44:12. | |
house now adjourned. Sir David Amis. | :44:13. | :44:16. |