My Lords, in this group of amendments we are once more addressing standards. Amendment 11, in the names of the noble Lord, Lord Stevenson, and other noble Lords, rightly states that international trade agreements must not conflict with the provisions of international treaties ratified by the United Kingdom. One wonders quite how the Government will steer through any agreement with the EU if our Government are threatening at the same time to break international law in the treaty they have just agreed in relation to Northern Ireland. This amendment should not be needed but, as the noble Baroness, Lady Blower, said, it seems that it is.
The amendment also states that such agreements must be consistent with the SDGs, which aim to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030, leaving no one behind. They are wide ranging, covering women’s rights, health, education, the environment and much else. The UK has signed up to deliver them, not only internationally but domestically. In a later group, we will come back to amendments specifically on the environment, but that is central to the SDGs. Given that we have signed up to the SDGs, the Minister should simply be able to accept this provision.
The amendment also references international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The Minister will have noted the very powerful cross-party support for such an approach, and strong support in the Lords for the defence of human rights globally. I am sure that his Bill team will have correctly written “human rights” in the column that means that this issue will need to be addressed.
In Amendment 45, my noble friends Lord Purvis and Lady Kramer seek to make it a duty to bring human rights and equalities impact assessments of all trade deals before and after implementation. As my noble friend Lady Kramer pointed out, this is now routine within trade agreements. Clearly, this is a sine qua non and the Government should simply accept this amendment. I note the support of the noble Lord, Lord Lansley, for this.
Amendment 33, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, and others, protects against, for example, making a damaging trade deal with China. Parliamentary
approval would be required if a trade deal were to be made with a signatory that was non-democratic and the trade deal affected critical infrastructure, as outlined here.
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We already know that the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the Commons, chaired by Tom Tugendhat, is very exercised about the role of China and the part it may be playing, or may wish to play, in our critical infrastructure. The Minister emphasises that this is a continuity Bill; it is not likely that China would simply roll over the agreement with the EU, as an agreement with the whole of the EU, including the UK, promises much more than an agreement with just the UK, especially given that the Government have decided that we should be outside the single market and the customs union.
China has a massive and fast-growing market; we do not. We would not negotiate from a position of strength, as the EU can. That makes such a trade agreement even more challenging, and we need to bear in mind that China has broken the treaty on Hong Kong. It is vital that we consider how the Uighurs are being treated, as the noble Lord, Lord Alton, said. Is the Minister aware of the report of the China Tribunal, which concludes that the Uighurs and others have been subject to forced organ harvesting for transplants? Under those circumstances, can he think of any acceptable circumstance in which it would be appropriate right now to have a trade agreement with China?
This amendment raises some extremely important issues. We will find it challenging, going forward as a country alone, ensuring that any trade agreements we sign meet high standards in human rights, but that is what the Government have promised. It should therefore be straightforward to get that commitment into the Bill and to make sure that Parliament can scrutinise any proposed future trade deals to ensure that this is delivered.