06/09/2016 BBC Parliament on BBC Two

Has he decided if we will be in Europol, yes or no?

The honourable lady is an eminent branch --

was an eminent front bench member and I take her question seriously.

The Justice and home affairs stream is being assessed

in that the as we speak and the aim is to preserve the relationship

with the European Union on security matters as best we can.

She will remember that last year there was a decision which was made,

which laid aside about 100 measures which we didn't want to be part

but kept some including European arrest warrant,

controversially as she will remember.

We are of course across that, of course and we are aiming

to maintain that.

That is the answer.

I warmly congratulate my right honourable friend on his return

to the government front bench after an unfortunate

hiatus of 20 years.

Is it not absolutely clear Mr Speaker that my right honourable

friend has both the skills and the experience for the extremely

difficult job that lies ahead and surely the whole house

will wish him every success as he charts those

extremely difficult waters.

I must admit I didn't hear the question!

Flattering as it is I don't intend to pay a fee for it, either!

We learnt more from the Prime Minister's briefing journalists

in China of substance than we had in that 15 minute about stakeholders

and round tables.

Could he please confirm that the points-based immigration

system, the cut in VAT on fuel and the ?250 million extra

every week for the NHS, the three main promises

of the Leave campaign now lie in tatters.

The task of my department is to deliver on the three things.

The British people in the referendum voted for return to Parliament

of control of their laws, control of our money and control

of our borders and that is what my department will do.

What happens then is down to the government and parliament

but let me deal with one aspect of what he said.

The points-based immigration system.

What the Prime Minister said in China was very clear.

She was concerned that a points-based system

was actually open-ended, that it did not actually put

a control on the number of people coming to the UK and therefore

she wanted something that sounded like it would be more

vigorous, not less.

As 47 countries have free trade agreements with the EU

without accepting any EU control over migration in their countries

or accepting any contributions to the EU, would my right honourable

friend confirm that taking back control cannot be negotiated

with the French, Germans and the others.

We take back control of those matters and we negotiated they wish

over trade and would he further confirmed the French and German

governments have indicated not at all that they wish to impose any

tariffs on their very profitable trade with us because they don't

believe in self harm.

That last point goes to the heart of the question because free trade

is not something which is a gift from one country to another,

it is something which is mutually beneficial and I fully expect that

when we come to do our negotiation with the European Union

we will see them recognising, France, Germany, all of them,

as a manufacturing surplus is delivered to us,

we have a service so plus the other way and I expect we will both gain

from the free trade agreements that comes out of that negotiation.

Can I welcome the Secretary of State to his place and also welcomed

the statement today and the visit he made recently to Northern Ireland

where he met the First Minister and Deputy First

Minister and others.

Can he give us reassurance that as we seek to move forward and make

a success of Brexit for the whole United Kingdom,

which is what the British people in its entirety have voted for,

all parts of it.

Can he reassure me as a result of this national vote and members

of the United Kingdom had an equal vote in that and have voted

overwhelmingly to come out of the European Union,

can the Secretary of State make it clear that he will work

with ministers in Northern Ireland closely, but not just at ministerial

level but that officials within his department will work

closely with officials in the executive office

and the Department of the economy and others to ensure we make

a success of this project?

I can tell the right honourable gentleman that is already happening.

Officials in my department and other Whitehall departments are working

with officials in the Northern Ireland Office to proceed

on what will be one of the more difficult elements

of the negotiation because we do have two deal with the issue

of the border and keeping it open and not returning to the times

of the recent past.

I also agree with him in some depth in his statement that this

is a national decision.

A whole British nation, a whole United Kingdom nation

that has decided this.

Whilst we seek to meet and protect the interests of every part

of the United Kingdom that does not mean that any part of it

will have a veto on it, least of all the partisan reasons.

I welcome my right honourable friend to his responsibilities and further

welcome his agreement to come before the Foreign Affairs Committee next

week in order to provide further follow-up to this statement.

Does he share my assessment that there is a key foreign security

and defence interest for our 27 European Union partners in finding

continuing engagement with United Kingdom after Brexit?

My right honourable friend is right and this is fundamental for one

of the points I was making in the course of my earlier remarks.

There is a very strong security, foreign affairs, foreign policy,

environmental, a whole series of relationships that will continue

to apply long after we have left the European Union to the benefit

of both European Union and the United Kingdom.

Can I welcome warmly the minister to his new position and I know that

millions of Labour voters who were supporters who voted

to Leave will be pleased there is someone in this position

he genuinely wants to get out of the European Union.

Can I ask him to confirm that there is a real difference

between wanting to be members of the single market and wanting

to have access of the single market and some of the Remainers

should remember that.

She is right and of course the access to the single market

is actually not really up for grabs.

It is there for everybody.

There are many countries actually outside the European Union that do

a better job in the single market than we do, even without a trade

agreement so of course we want to have access

to the single market, we don't need to be

a member of its to do it.

Being a member of that has caused some of the problems of sovereignty

that this referendum was driven by.

Congratulations to my right honourable friend

on his appointment.

Will he confirm that the vote to Leave requires the repeal

of the European Communities Act 1972 and will the government bring

in such a Bill as soon as is reasonably possible?

The aspects of the European Union Act, European Communities Act 1972

that are required to be repealed and those aspects that need to be

carried into British law are very important set of issues that have

to be decided.

Once we have got to be proud of deciding that we will

come back to the House at the first possible opportunity.

Don't we need more specifics really from the Secretary of State?

Don't we need to know the example that we can build those

new relationships and not just wait until after

the divorce proceedings finished.

When this weekend the president of the EU commission said he wasn't

keen on negotiating trade agreements that leave us in limbo.

It is essential we get on with building knows

It is essential we get on with building knows --

those

the relationships now and dealing with the Brexit issue at the same

time as making sure that we forge those new relationships?

We have do have them together, not one after the other.

How will he secure that?

He is right and indeed the suggestion from the commission

that it is somehow illegal for my right honourable friend to go

and talk to ministers in India, Canada or Australia or where ever

he is going to next is ridiculous.

The only thing they can say in legal terms is that we cannot bring

into force an agreement until after we leave.

That is perfectly fair and probable stock that is what the laws

of the European Union are.

He can take it as read that that is what we are doing.

We are looking to make sure all that we have the fastest

transition to our other opportunities that I mentioned

as fast as possible after Brexit concludes.

As the same on the other front suggestions we can't talk

about the trade arrangement with Europe until Article 50's

process is concluded and we are outside the European Union,

that too is nonsense and I have looked carefully at several

different

versions in different languages of Article 50 and they all refer

to the parallel negotiations that will take place.

He can take it as read that on both the counts he is right and on both

those counts we are pursuing the matter.

Many of our industries depend on European regulation.

There is some uncertainty about the future of this law.

Further to his reply to my honourable friend the chairman

of the select committee, can he confirm the government

is going about work establishing the entire corpus of European law,

establishing all the detail and following the path set

by countries such as India and Australia when they took on full

independence, converted the whole of British law into their national

law and in subsequent years went through it,

repealed, or improved upon it.

Yes, my right honourable friend makes a good point.

It is one of the reasons this process is taking some time.

The legal interactions of the elements of British

law and European law are not straightforward.

My initial starting position was we put them all into law

and take it from there.

It doesn't quite work like that.

That is why it is taking a little while but he can be sure

that my legal section and my lawyers up on that issue as we speak

and will come up with conclusions as quickly as they can

and when they do, I will tell the House what their conclusion is.

Scotland's fishing communities were due to receive over 100 million

euros between now and 2020 from the EU.

euros between now and 2023 from the EU.

The Secretary of State today has committed to support our

agricultural committees by guaranteeing that funding

will be matched.

Will he make a similar commitment to fishing communities to honour

funding in the current funding round?

Sadly, I didn't make the commitment, the Chancellor made the commitment

and, well, with great respect, it isn't up to me to make

commitments on behalf of the Treasury but what I will say

to her is this.

He made the commitment - if she reads and we will put a copy

of the letter in the library, which he laid out the underpinning

of the common agricultural policy and structural funds and science

fund that he make the point clearly that this was effectively his

decision until the Autumn Statement.

What I would say to her and I will reflect it to him myself

is what he has said so that before the Autumn Statement he is aware

of her concerns.

One of the legitimate concerns of many

Remain voters was a fear that an unduly long period of uncertainty

one negotiations were going on would be damaging for the British economy.

Could my honourable friend then confirmed that it would be his piety

to complete this process as soon as the, that the --

his priority.

That the two years to complete this is an arbitrary maximum and that

countries which have left a political union,

like Canada, Australia or India have done so in far less than two years.

I defer to his knowledge of history on the other countries.

What I will say to him is this.

The Prime Minister has said that we will not trigger article

50 until the New Year.

The reason for that is not unnecessary delay or wasting time.

It is to make sure we get all the decisions absolutely right.

He has heard in the last few minutes about some of the complexity

involved in the Acquis Communautaire alone.

So what we will do is we will trigger article 50 as soon

as is reasonably possible.

I would rather be a month late and get it right than be a month

early and get it wrong.

We will do so as expeditiously as possible.

The Prime Minister has said in clear terms that she thinks the British

people expect us to get on with this.

Angela Eagle.

Unravelling 40 years of close corporation within the

European Union with 27 nation states is, as the right gent is learning,

gentleman is learning,

is very complex issue.

-- the right honourable gentleman, and as he he give us a view of how

that is going and Kenny givers a few on workers prove rights,

equal pay for equal value, weedy keeping that, with the EU laws

guaranteeing pension payments if they are deferred wages still be

recognised by this House?

He talks about the sovereignty of Parliament.

Will he give this Parliament much more of a say on the deal

that is done?

And is his government intending to give the British people a say

on the deal when it is done?

I will start by saying that we got our instructions

from the British people to do this in the first place.

But she raises some serious issues.

Yes, of course, my views on the importance of Parliamentary

accountability have not changed because I have moved

four benches forward.

I still believe that we should be as open with Parliament

as it is possible to be in a negotiation.

I am appearing before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee

soon and undertaking -- an undertaking I made

some time ago.

I am doing the same with the House of Lords committee.

On the question of employment rights, I would say that a very

large component of the people who voted to leave the European Union

could be characterised as the British industrial working

class.

And it is no part of my brief to undermine their rights.

For a start.

Nicky Morgan.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

I welcome the Secretary of State to his new role.

I think he is right that we need to respect the result of the 23rd

of June and he is also right that people wanted further

controls on immigration.

They don't feel confident in the immigration Wallasey

is that we have had.

I don't know -- policies that we have had.

But the missing words are single market.

We will be arguing between access to the single market and the freedom

of people to come to this country.

When will the government set out its views on the fundamental point.

I start from a disagreement with the honourable lady.

The simple truth is, as I said earlier, that the negotiation over

free trade with the European Union is something that will be

to the benefit of both sides.

Beneficial for us and the European countries themselves.

The question of immigration and control of immigration is a very

high priority for this government as the Prime Minister

has made plain.

So I am afraid that I don't agree with the fundamental tenet

of the question.

I don't think that is a natural trade-off.

The negotiation has got to be very much on what is in the mutual

benefit of this country and the European Union.

45 Japanese companies operate in Wales supporting some 6000 jobs

mainly in tech manufacturing.

Manufacturing itself is worth ?9 billion to the Welsh economy.

What assurances can the government give to those companies

and the workers that the Welsh economy will not be

harmed by Brexit?

It is the same assurance that I give to all my factory operations

-- manufacturing operations in the UK.

The aim of this because the Asian -- to all manufacturing operations.

The aim of this negotiation is to get the best deal that we can.

Getting access to the European markets and also exploiting the best

arrangements with the non-European markets.

On manufacturing alone, the quantity of exports that we make

to the European Union is exceeded by the exports we make to those

countries with whom we have no free trade agreement at all.

So once we get a free trade agreement, or many of them,

as my right honourable friend will do, we won't see downside,

we will see opportunities.

Oh, yes, a most exotic delicacy in the House, Mr Michael Gove.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Can I congratulate my friend on his long overdue return

to ministerial office.

In the seven short weeks since he has been in office

alongside our new Foreign Secretary and our new Secretary of State

for International trade, we have seen a record increase

in service industries' growth, in manufacturing industry grows,

a 3.3% increase in motor car sales, and also the Speaker of the US

Congress, the promise of Australia and the Prime Minister

-- the prime minister of Australian and of New Zealand pressing for free

trade agreements with this country

while the deputy Chancellor of Germany has acknowledged

that the EU- US trade deal is dead in the water.

Does that not confirm that the 17 million people who voted to leave

the European Union in this country know a darn sight more

about economics and the members of the IMF, the OECD,

the IFS and all these other experts who have egg on their face?

My right honourable friend is not known for understating his case!

But I would point out that it was 17.5 million people that

made that judgment.

And he is right.

Much of the doom and gloom, the fear mongering that went

on before the referendum, has been proven wrong.

That being said, I would not be quite so unalloyed optimistic

as he is because we are in a world in which there are a lot

of economic pressures going on.

That is why the meetings in China are going on now.

So I think that he makes a point brilliantly, as always.

And I agree with the main thrust of it but let's not get too

optimistic before we close the deal.

The Secretary of State said he wants to have the supremacy

of this Parliament.

If we are a sovereign, supreme Parliament, why is this

Parliament not going to have a decision as to

when we trigger article 50?

We did, it was called a Referendum Act and it was passed

by 6-1 in this Parliament.

Mr Dominic Grieve.

Thank you.

May I congratulate my right honourable friend in his abysmal

failure to avoid high office over ten years.

It is a great pleasure to see him in his place.

May I also reassure him that as someone who supported his Remain

campaign, that I see it is my absolute duty to support

the government in giving effect to the public desire to leave

the European Union including supporting the limitation

the government of article 50.

My right honourable friend pointed out that the matter

is legally complex.

It also concerns the Acquis Communautaire, the conferring

of private legal rights on individuals in this country

which have the force of statute.

And I have to say to my right honourable friend that the idea

that those should simply be revoked by our exit, without parliamentary

approval, troubles me very much.

And it appears to me to be an abdication of the responsibility

of this House.

I accept that in many cases, they have been created

by Henry VIII's clauses, the unsatisfactory nature of the EU.

But if we cannot scrutinise them before Article 50 is invoked,

we will be allowing the government to dispose

of private property rights, including intellectual

property, by decree.

And that troubles me very much.

I would ask him to use ingenuity to find ways

of resolving this dilemma.

It's a pleasure to hear from my right honourable

friend long-time friend.

But he is over interpreting what I have said.

Article 50 is the beginning of this process, it is not the end.

There will be many opportunities for this House to scrutinise

what we are about to do after article 50 takes Place.

But it is somewhat futile before we actually start the negotiations

because some of those negotiations have a direct impact on the rights

he is talking about.

He can take it from me, I didn't spend all those years

on the backbenches defending there is right,

to give them up now.

Hilary Benn.

Does the Secretary of State agree that it would be a good idea to find

some way of maintaining a form of cooperation on foreign policy

after we leave the European Union because even after exit,

we will still be very much part of Europe and there are a great

number of challenges around the world on which we will have

to continue to work with our European neighbours?

The right honourable gentleman is absolutely right.

And the tradition in this country in maintaining strong effective

alliances, generally for good in the world at large is one that

I fully expect to continue.

Indeed, one aspect of the picture that I see

of the future that I see is that Britain will continue to be a good

global citizen as it always has been and cooperation on foreign

policy is part of that.

Cheryl Gillan.

May I add my congratulations to my right honourable friend.

It is good to see him in his natural habitat at the dispatch box.

Businesses in the UK are not just concerned about access

to the single market.

They are concerned about other matters and a unitary patient

and the proposed new unitary patient caught, unified patient caught,

has been eagerly anticipated.

You currently are required to file a separate page ands

in separate countries.

The UK was due to ratify this agreement.

Will he confirm that the UK will ratify this agreement

and we will continue to pay a full part in a British businesses benefit

from being able to be part of a unified patient authority.

I will say this to my right honourable friend.

For as long as we are a member of the European Union,

which will be at least two micro years, we will meet

all our obligations and we will take our

responsibilities extremely seriously.

Can I ask the Secretary of State to face the House.

Sometimes his answers are not fully heard.

They are hard by the person he is looking at.

All I can do is plead inexperience, Mr Speaker.

Yes!

May I congratulate the Secretary of State on his return to the front

bench and thank you for his answer to all those Labour constituencies

who voted to leave and in making control of our borders

the cornerstone of negotiations.

Can I take him back to the question that the Member for Woking asked.

Given the huge trade surplus Europe has with us,

how does he think that power position will play out

when we are talking about membership of or access to the single

market?

Well, it is early days to forecast negotiations

but he is right there is a large trade surplus.

of the referendum campaign that was lost in cars

from Germany alone for example.

With the European Union facing economic difficulties I don't think

they will want to create problems for themselves in creating bilateral

arrangements that hurt themselves.

So, the way I think it will play out is over the course of the period

concerned people will start to focus on what their own

national interest is.

My experience of the European Union is that the commission makes a great

deal of public statements that at the end of the day

it is the national interest of the individual countries that

actually decide the outcome

You're under arrest.

You're going to prison.

In what sense are you free?

I live at a level of intensity

unknown to you and others of your type.

You will never know the almost God-like power that I feel

when that last bit of breath leaves a body...

VOICE DISTORTS That feeling of complete possession.

SHE TAKES A BREATH

PLAYS FANFARE