My Lords, I am glad to have the opportunity, in this group, to follow my noble friend Lady McIntosh. She will forgive me if I do not speak to her two amendments but instead confine myself to Amendment 93 in my name, which relates to free zones and free ports. These are essentially the same thing; they are called free zones in the legislation that establishes the procedure for making them.
I draw noble Lords’ attention to the debate on 4 February 2019 on the previous Bill that was brought forward. I had a debate whose purpose was to propose a consultation on the future designation of free zones; of course, there were and are no free zones. The Minister at the time, my noble friend Lord Bates, replied to me on that subject then. I was asking for a consultation, and he said that he was not able to offer one but that
“The idea has been advocated”—[Official Report, 4/2/19; col. 1349.]
by himself and a number of others in the north-east, including the local MP Rishi Sunak. I see that time has moved on.
I am raising the same subject but do not need to ask for a consultation on the part of the Government, because they have now had one and are readying themselves, I hope, to respond to the product of that consultation. Back in February 2019, my noble friend said at the end:
“I am not able to be more helpful than that to my noble friend at this point, much as I may wish to be”.—[Official Report, 4/2/19; col. 1349.]
So I am looking to my noble friend on the Front Bench again today to be as helpful as he wishes to be.
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What is the point of my amendment now, if it is not to have such a consultation? It is to do two things related to the legislation which establishes free zones. The Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 sets out the relevant power: it is a power to be made by order by Treasury Ministers. As far as I could tell, having taken advice in this matter, it is an order-making power exercisable by Treasury Ministers which, because it is not in the form of a regulation, is not subject to any parliamentary procedure. However, if we were to adopt my amendment, we could make it
“subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament”.
Otherwise, it would not have a parliamentary procedure, which would mean that it would not be possible for either House to pray against an order if it felt that there was something wrong in the designation of areas.
The other thing my amendment says is that, before making such an order designating an area as a free zone,
“the Treasury must consult persons whom they consider representative of those people and enterprises situated in the area to be designated.”
I completely understand that there is a degree of bureaucratic burden involved in this. The Treasury has had a consultation about free zones and many organisations have responded to it. The Treasury will come forward with a proposal to designate certain areas, not necessarily coastal ports—for example, they might include Heathrow or a number of airports. Geographically, they could in fact be anywhere in the country. The point is that when it does that, having received what is in effect an application from a location to have a free zone, the application may not necessarily have carried with it the consent and approval of the people living in such an area.
I cannot see why they would necessarily object, but it is always a principle to say that, if an area is going to be designated for these purposes, the Treasury should have satisfied itself that the people living in that area will have been consulted about such a designation. So the Treasury and the Government are making progress on free zones, and this might be an opportunity for my noble friend to inform us about the progress of that exercise and, I hope, to respond by suggesting that for the future it would be good to proceed in the way that my amendment proposes.