Contributions
187 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTrade BillIt was necessary for the noble Lord to ask about the word “absolutely”, but I object to being asked to calm down. I was trying to give your Lordships the clear advice that we have…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillMy Lords, as I repeated, the Government’s priority is to bring certainty to businesses and the public so that we will have continuity in our current trade and investment…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillI apologise. I should have addressed that question. The Government have to approve the accession of new members to the GPA. The accession member will be reviewed by the ITC, and…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillPlan A is to have a withdrawal agreement. There is then an implementation period and after that there is obviously more time to be able to effect this. In the very unlikely event…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillOnce we are given an invitation to join, our Foreign Secretary puts down an offer of accession, which has to go through the CRaG process in the normal way to make sure that that…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillThe process will continue and it will be our aim to be an independent member by the time we leave. That is our aim.21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillWe will have to progress and become as quickly as possible an independent member of the GPA. That process will need to progress.21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillPerhaps it would be helpful if I gave the process for GPA accession. Schedules are laid down and there is an agreement in principle, which has been achieved. Then an invitation is…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillMy Lords, Clause 1 allows for the implementation of the UK’s independent accession to the GPA in domestic procurement legislation. The power is simple and is limited in its scope.…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillMy Lords, we have discussed a number of elements of the GPA, but at its heart it opens up mutually a government procurement market among its parties. That has come about as the…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillI thank my noble friend for the question. My understanding is that it puts us in the same position as we are today. When parties want to withdraw from or join the GPA, a process…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillI will confirm this, but my understanding is that the schedules will be exactly as they are now. The procurement agencies in Wales will be able to put in their own procurement…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillAgain, we are talking not about the future but about continuity. When we discuss these clauses, I would ideally like to focus on what we need for continuity. We have time…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillI reiterate to your Lordships that this Bill, and the powers we are requesting, do not allow changes in our schedules to the GPA. Any future changes will need to be brought…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillI reassert that there is no power in the Bill to make any changes to those GPA schedules. We can come on to future policy, but this Bill is about continuity and making sure they…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillI can confirm that we are copying the existing schedules directly across. There are no changes, so there is no need for scrutiny of changes, because no changes will be brought…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillMy understanding is that any regulations would go through the normal procedures of scrutiny. No changes in law would be allowable without scrutiny.21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillI thank my noble friend for that important question. I think this issue comes later in the amendments, but I can confirm that we intend essentially to take exactly the schedules…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillMy Lords, we begin this first day in Committee with a discussion about some really important matters. I recognise the vast experience of your Lordships on many of these matters…21 Jan 2019HANSARDTrade BillEarlier in the debate, we went through the process for agreeing these continuity agreements. We have not talked about the scrutiny for future trade agreements, but maybe there was…21 Jan 2019