I am sure that the devolved Administrations were informed in the sense that they were told that there had been a round and various things had been discussed, but it is clear that the result came as a surprise—that there should be such an asymmetrical deal on farm products. I do not myself believe that it is a disaster, but it certainly came as a surprise. Would the Minister agree that it would be better if the documents that the Government published at the start of a negotiation—the negotiating objectives documents—were a little more specific? They are cast in such broad-brush terms that it is very difficult to deduce from them what a likely outcome might be, so the risk of a surprise is quite high.
Australia Free Trade Agreement
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Kerr of Kinlochard
(Crossbench)
in the House of Lords on Monday, 11 July 2022.
It occurred during Debates on treaty on Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
823 c1313 
Session
2022-23
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2022-09-22 14:16:42 +0100
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