Future Free Trade Agreements

I have read a number of representations from a number of organisations, particularly in relation ...

I thank the Secretary of State for that clarification. He has made it abundantly clear that the p...

While I clearly reject the latter part of what the right hon. Gentleman has said, the rest of it ...

I will make some progress. I will give way again shortly.

New opportunities are clearly ava...

The Secretary of State is right to refer to the emerging middle class in growing economies—India ...

The importance that the UK ascribes to human rights is extremely well documented in the range of ...

Does the Secretary of State expect the beneficial arrangements that the European Union has made w...

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman, who takes an interest in these issues, for his interve...

We have already shown that we are very capable of getting contracts, for instance, as the Secreta...

The hon. Gentleman makes several interesting points, and of course not all of the improved openin...

On scrutiny and transparency, can my right hon. Friend confirm that the legal protections for our...

The UK as well as the EU have been at the forefront of improving the investor-state dispute settl...

But surely Team EU collectively, with Britain in it, would have much more negotiating leverage ag...

I really find it quite insulting that the United Kingdom, the fifth biggest economy in the world,...

The Secretary of State has given us a good rundown of eastern growth metrics. This is why the EU ...

But that is a false prospectus, because we want a full and comprehensive trading agreement with t...

Is the right hon. Gentleman seriously saying that the Treasury’s suggestion that getting out of t...

I know that the hon. Gentleman feels very strongly about this. He did not like the result of the ...

My hon. Friend the Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Angus Brendan MacNeil), the Chair of the Inte...

As I said, the Government’s ambition is to have a full and comprehensive agreement with the EU, a...

I will make some progress.

Standards have been widely debated in relation to future trade a...

Taking the Secretary of State back to Honda’s decision earlier this week, the company said that o...

That was one of many reasons, with the main reason being changes in the international car market ...

We would like to stay in the customs union because we export a lot to Europe. That is the simple ...

The liberalisation of global trade is to everyone’s advantage. The hon. Lady says it is a terribl...

The hon. Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford) asked the Secretary of State for an assurance that th...

I have done so in previous debates of this nature, in which I said that we regard the public prov...

I have been listening carefully to the Secretary of State, and his argument seems to be that, on ...

I hate to point it out, but the EU does not have a trade agreement with the US. Let me give the h...

I will make a little progress, because I know other Members wish to speak.

When we leave th...

Let me come back to a point about UK-US trade. The Secretary of State will be well aware that so ...

A lot of US corporations that I speak to are very relaxed about what our relationship with the EU...

rose—

I will give way, but then I will make some progress.

My constituents are very concerned about animal welfare standards. Will the Secretary of State co...

I have already said that we give high priority to those standards, including animal welfare stand...

I thank the Secretary of State for mentioning the welcome developments with regard to the partner...

The right hon. Gentleman, as ever, anticipates my very next point. In addition to considering acc...

The Australian Trade Minister has said that other countries in the Asia Pacific region would be c...

No. The countries in the CPTPP have been quite clear that they want to finish the ratification pr...

I thank the Secretary of State for giving way. Let me go back to the issues around Australia—as a...

At the other end of the scale, the Australia-US trade agreement was an extremely short one to neg...

Let me provide a little extra scrutiny. The Secretary of State has talked a lot about trade polic...

The mechanics of the market become immaterial if there is no market to sell into. We are looking ...

There is a saying that the longest journey begins with the first step. I have always thought that...

I have a philosophical question. There are two schools of thought regarding what is to blame for ...

The hon. Gentleman makes two distinct points. Of course, he is right to talk about the impact of ...

The Labour party’s position is that it would be inside the customs union, where it would inherit ...

It is always the way with the Secretary of State: when he sees that a valid point has been made a...

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there is some concern among Japanese car manufacturers about whe...

The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, and I will address it because he has done so in an open sp...

Does my hon. Friend think it is a cruel irony that Margaret Thatcher was instrumental in creating...

My hon. Friend tempts me into a discussion about Brexit, but I am sure that if I were to be tempt...

I thank the shadow Secretary of State for giving way and for the excellent speech that he is maki...

I certainly do agree with my hon. Friend. Some in the Secretary of State’s party have been claimi...

The Secretary of State’s reference to the sunny uplands of post-Brexit trade rather prompts the q...

There is no need for me to comment. The empty Benches are screaming my hon. Friend’s point louder...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

I will make a little progress.

The Government’s primary focus must be securing a deal with ...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will, but my hon. Friend has promoted me.

I am grateful; my hon. Friend is making an exceptionally important point. I have had the ceramics...

I do not know whether my hon. Friend was in the Chamber just prior to the debate starting, but I ...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

In a moment. Jude Brimble continued:

“Manufacturers are often based in the heart of their c...

The need to produce a new tariff policy would be required only in a no-deal scenario. I voted for...

I have two points. First, of course I will vote for a deal, but I will not vote for the Secretary...

Order. The hon. Gentleman cannot sit down. He has to keep going.

I was seeking an intervention, Madam Deputy Speaker.

According to the Office for National S...

I hesitate to intervene to make a discordant point, because the hon. Gentleman was being generous...

Yes, indeed. That is why I have consistently said that I believe that Brexit will do economic dam...

As usual, I have a couple of declarations to make. First, I belong to the National Farmers Union,...

The hon. Gentleman talks about improvement. I just wonder what he means by that. Does he mean exp...

There is a list of ways in which we can look at that. Perhaps I can answer with an old story. I w...

I really appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s anecdotes about sheep farming. He talks about improvemen...

All I can suggest to the hon. Lady is that she gets disc two of “The Lord of the Rings”, and if s...

I do not need to get disc two of “The Lord of the Rings”, because I already have it and have watc...

So would I, but I think it is quite possible to have some dramatic improvements in farming. Part ...

I start by agreeing with what the Secretary of State said about looking to have trade deals with ...

My hon. Friend is making a great point about the demands made by countries such as the US. A lot ...

I am going to say more about the ISDS component—the arbitration competent—of these things later. ...

One of my constituents’ biggest fears is that private companies will be able to buy off parts of ...

I do. It was interesting to listen to what the Secretary of State said earlier. He laid out very ...

My hon. Friend is making an important point about how Parliaments across the United Kingdom shoul...

That demonstrates that it can be done and there is nothing to be afraid of. It is vital so that S...

To pursue that point, the increasingly broad scope of modern trade agreements is such that often ...

Yes I do. That ties in directly to the powers the UK Government have seized over public procureme...

Future trade deals must be part of a coherent trade strategy, and it is imperative that, as part ...

Several Members have expressed concerns about the NHS today. We have probably all been contacted ...

The hon. Lady makes a good point. The earlier the involvement in these conversations, the more co...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, who serves with me on the International Trade Committee, for...

I do not think it is as clearcut as that. In the Malthouse compromise, which some might have read...

I am trying to follow what the hon. Gentleman is saying as closely as I can. He talks about worki...

I thank the Chairman of our Committee for his intervention. I absolutely agree that it makes the ...

The backstop?

The backstop to the backstop to the backstop, exactly. I really do not think that we should get i...

Order. That does not mean to say that the hon. Gentleman has to take up all the time and stop oth...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker.

I want to point out that my hon. Friend is not the only one left on the Government Benches, altho...

Order. May I just say that there are no more Government Members on my list, which includes people...

I really came to listen to my hon. Friend, because it is such a privilege to listen to a genuine ...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. I am quite sure that the Minister present was not in...

Order. If Members replicate the length of that speech, not everyone will get in, which seems a bi...

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will take cognisance of the fact that I started at 2.7 pm and wil...

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about how many other nations will look at the market ...

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point. There are 40 such agreements with about 70 countri...

My hon. Friend is making a point about trade agreements having an impact on sheep farming in the ...

Absolutely. My hon. Friend is correct about that. This whole area needs to be fully assessed, as ...

You said you would be brief.

2.28 pm

What a pleasure it is to speak in this debate with so many other antipodeans: the hon. Members fo...

Quality not quantity.

Exactly.

We are in the bizarre position of not having a proper agreement with our main trad...

I wish to echo and strengthen the hon. Lady’s point. Bernie Sanders—I wish him the best of luck i...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and for his leadership of the Select Committee. I...

My hon. Friend is making some important points. I am sure that she will agree that one of the gre...

I agree, particularly in relation to some of the really sensitive things such as human rights. We...

It is very disappointing to see how few Members are present in the Chamber today—that applies to ...

On that idea of keeping Parliament in the dark, if the UK and the EU were to enter into a trade n...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his chairmanship of the International Trade Committee, which he do...

I am very much enjoying my hon. Friend’s speech. It is not just that we seem to be in the dark ab...

My hon. Friend makes an important point, which I was going to come to later in my speech. He is q...

The hon. Gentleman has mentioned Japan. Does he think that the lack of concern that has been show...

I thank the hon. Gentleman, whose constituency name I always get wrong—the Outer Hebrides—for his...

I thank my hon. Friend for giving way again. Does he accept that one sector that is particularly ...

I thank my hon. Friend for his well-informed intervention—he clearly knows a huge amount more abo...

It is a pleasure and an honour to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Ma...

New Zealand also produces other agricultural products such as wine and fruit—apples, pears and so...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, but let us be clear. He gives the example of wi...

My hon. Friend not only beautifully illustrates the north-east of England, but she is making very...

I thank my hon. Friend for that excellent point. The competitiveness of the sector means that mar...

The hon. Lady makes the powerful case against no deal, which is why the Society of Motor Manufact...

I thank the Minister for that intervention and for giving me the opportunity to reiterate that, a...

Which business organisations have said that they think this is a bad deal?

The Minister knows very well that the business organisations who have said that to me—I speak to ...

Very simply, the reality is that this is not just about no deal. Businesses, the manufacturing se...

I thank my hon. Friend for that important point. Many organisations, such as the Manufacturing Tr...

Will the hon. Lady give way?

I will give way, but I do not wish to emulate others in making long speeches.

The hon. Lady mentioned businesses that are not prepared to go on the record. I quote:

“Thi...

I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman was in his place when I started speaking, but I acknowle...

It pains me to advise my hon. Friend of this, but in the last quarterly set of figures, that hono...

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. I had not seen the last set of quarterly figures. I...

To highlight the point my hon. Friend is making so well, has she heard and was she as appalled as...

My hon. Friend raises a very unpleasant memory for me of when, as an engineering student at Imper...

Earlier this week, I did not expect to be here today. I was planning a day in my constituency, wo...

What the Government must do is very simple. They must accept one of the amendments to the Agricul...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and look forward to the Secretary of State’s comment...

The hon. Lady has asked for my reassurance. As I mentioned earlier, article 23.4 of the comprehen...

I thank the Secretary of State for his comments, and for pointing me to that document. I am sure ...

Before I call the Front Benchers to sum up the debate, let me thank the hon. Member for Blaydon (...

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. It certainly has been a very thorough debate, and I ce...

Is the hon. Gentleman’s logic that if we had less trade overall, less carbon would be omitted and...

What an absurd intervention—but we have come to expect nothing less from the Secretary of State. ...

Does my hon. Friend agree that we need primary legislation, not hour-and-a-half debates in Commit...

My hon. Friend makes much the same point that my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North and I mad...

He was just obliging you.

Was he? That is very kind of him.

In 2017, a number of Australian academics warned of the d...

I would have thought that the management of Honda are closer to this issue, and they say it is a ...

As my hon. Friend the Member for Brent North was just saying to me, Honda’s management are far to...

That just will not wash. Why, then, is Honda leaving Turkey? Is that the result of Brexit as well...

The leave campaign pushed the point rather hard about Turkey’s accession to the EU.

My hon....

I mentioned Margaret Thatcher earlier. If she were still around today, she would not settle for H...

We have come to an interesting point, with Labour Members citing Margaret Thatcher and the fact t...

That is not what I said.

Well, the Secretary of State has been saying that for years. The Chair of the International Trade...

I hear urgings from Opposition Members, not least the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. ...

rose—

As I am talking about consultation and engagement, I shall give way to the hon. Lady.

One of the positive things about this debate has been the many voices from across the UK, the dev...

As ever, the hon. Lady speaks powerfully on behalf of her constituency and, indeed, Northern Irel...

I agree with the Minister that it is better to take one’s time to analyse the responses to the co...

First, I should say that parliamentarians will continue to be able to inform the negotiations. Pa...

Will the Minister give way?

I will not.

Both Houses will be fully involved as we balance meaningful scrutiny with the s...

rose—

I will give way to the shadow Secretary of State.

I just wanted to say thank you.

Excellent. That is delightful.

I have been speaking for eight minutes so far, and will seek...

Other than spending consequentials in this centralised UK state, there are no fiscal transfers fr...

We have seen investment spreading out from London and the south-east. If the Chair of the Select ...