UK Parliament / Open data

Loans to Ireland Bill

Proceeding contribution from Lord Newby (Liberal Democrat) in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 21 December 2010. It occurred during Debate on bills on Loans to Ireland Bill.
My Lords, the fact that such trade may be increasing more quickly is not surprising for two reasons. First, it is increasing from a smaller base, so it is easier to achieve a higher percentage increase. Secondly, most of those economies are growing more quickly than the eurozone, so you are feeding into a more buoyant economy. I completely accept that, but my point was slightly different. Incidentally, another problem about exporting to some of those other countries is that the newly passed Bribery Act is making many companies, not least small-to-medium-sized companies, very wary about their ability to export to China or India, for example, because they fear—sometimes rightly and sometimes, no doubt, incorrectly—that they may be faced with business practices there which they need to follow in order to gain access to a market but which they would not have to follow in the eurozone. In the medium term, I am extremely optimistic about the prospects for exports to the BRICs, but in the short term, given that we are starting from a relatively low base, it is a forlorn hope to think that the BRICs can solve our export problems.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
723 c1028-9 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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