I think we have had an excellent debate and I thank everyone who has contributed for their gracious remarks about all the amendments. Those who have spoken and who have put the amendments forward have gone to great lengths to consider the topic this evening and in Committee. Just to put my noble friend Lord Trenchard’s mind at rest—I am sure the Minister will confirm this—I cannot imagine for a minute that any Minister of the Crown serving Her Majesty’s Government would put anything forward that does not comply with World Trade Organization rules. We are, first and foremost, a nation that plays by the rules and abides by the rules and we have a good track record in that regard.
I would just like to express disappointment. I understand from the notes that came round that the Minister is prepared to answer a couple more questions if I raise them at this stage, and, if we are to vote on amendments tonight or at a later stage, I think this would be helpful to know. My noble friend listed again the bodies that look at food safety, but my concern is that we are continuing to confuse food standards and food safety. The noble Lord, Lord Trees, has done the House a great service this evening by pressing the Minister on which body will actually carry out the audits and inspections. I want to put that as a direct question to my noble friend, for the reasons the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, gave. If he is asking the Food Standards Agency to do this work, it is work that it already does when it is food coming in from third countries, as the EU and other countries will be when we have left.
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I think there is a confusion here. My Amendment 97 is about food standards, animal welfare and all these other things, not whether they actually meet the food standards regulations that the Food Standards Agency applies. So, when my noble friend reels off a list of all the bodies that are going to be looking at food safety, I think we are missing the point. What we would like to have this evening is a reassurance as to why, in his view, Amendments 97, 101, 102 and others are not needed —because I have not been convinced. I am desperately worried that we are potentially going to put our farmers in a very difficult position, and our consumers when
they are making choices going forward. So will he answer the question put by the noble Lord, Lord Trees, about which body will carry out these audits and inspections and which body will uphold these standards?
My noble friend said that Parliament will have 21 days to scrutinise any free trade agreement, I presume, that comes before the House. What is the precise procedure? Is it CRaG or are we going to go further? What will happen in those 21 days that Parliament is being given to look at that? I hope that those of us who do not happen to sit on those Select Committees will be able to have a view. When do the Government intend to respond to the Dimbleby report? It is most unfortunate that we have had what I believe are very helpful recommendations from Henry Dimbleby—that the Trade and Agriculture Commission should take a holistic approach, should be independent, should be formed of experts, should be permanent and have a statutory basis—and I would find it very unsatisfactory if my noble friend were to say that we are not going to have a response even to part 1 before the Bill, and indeed the Trade Bill, have received Royal Assent.
My noble friend went to some lengths to say why we should accept what the status of the advice from the Trade and Agriculture Commission would be. I would be satisfied—and I am sure other noble Lords would be as well—if my noble friend would confirm that the advice would have the same status as that from the Migration Advisory Committee, which is followed by the Government more or less to the letter. That would be very helpful indeed.
I will conclude by saying why I think Amendments 97, 101, 102 and others that have been put forward this evening are necessary. We find ourselves in a very weak negotiating position, and I do not accept that either the advisory group on trade or the Trade and Agriculture Commission as currently formed are up to the job. That is why we have tabled the amendments this evening. We find ourselves with no one from this country having the trade and negotiating experience that we need. We have reached out to New Zealanders and Australians to perform that duty for us. So that is why, in my view, subject to what my noble friend says, we need to have a vote on some of the amendments this evening.