Contributions
550 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationIf we get an agreement via the withdrawal agreement with our European Union partners, that is exactly what will happen: those agreements will roll over. Let me explain to the…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationThe Government are assessing where we are with each of the agreements. Where we believe that it will not be possible fully to replicate, we will set out a technical notice in the…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationThe central premise of the hon. Gentleman’s question is that we intend to rip up our trade agreement with what he describes as our most important trading partner, the EU27. We…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationFirst, let me thank my right hon. Friend for the work he has done in my Department as part of this overall process. What stands out in this debate is the utter humbug we hear from…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationAs ever, my right hon. and learned Friend raises interesting points. Although there would undoubtedly be a greater risk in the case of no deal, I do not agree that this would be…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationAs ever, the hon. Gentleman gives us a rich menu of the things on which he is wrong. First, if we want to ensure that all our agreements are rolled over, the best way to do that…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationThere are issues with Turkey, which is in a customs union, although it is a partial customs union, so we can discuss our future relationship in areas such as agriculture and…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationIt is tedious to have to give the same answer, but if the same question keeps getting asked, I will keep doing so. The way that we get continuity at one minute after midnight is…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationBut we are leaving the EU. Were we to attempt to have a customs union relationship, which is what the Labour party says, we would have no say in that trade policy; we would…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationThe hon. Lady raises a very important point. On Japan, the Japanese Government have said to us that if there were a deal with the European Union, they intend to roll over the…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationIt would be unparliamentary of me to use the same term as the shadow Secretary of State for some of Labour’s tests that have led it to its policy today. It is nonsensical to say…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationAs ever, I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question. On the UK’s trade, 48% of our trade is with the European Union and 52% with the rest of the world. Of the rest of the…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationIt seems that the country is caught between the irrational pessimism of those who fail to be reconciled to the referendum result and believe that everything to do with Brexit will…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationAs I have already said, the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Abe have both indicated that they want a close trading relationship for our countries after we leave the EU, but the…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationMy hon. Friend, who has considerable knowledge from his work on the Select Committee, is quite right. If we were in a customs union, but a third country outside the European…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationJust how would it give us greater certainty in the exercise of our own trade policy if we were a third country outside the European Union in a form of customs union that…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationI hope that we will see the progress of the Trade Bill, which the Labour party voted against in this House. Those involved in manufacturing, including in the constituency of the…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationThe policy on students is to encourage them to come here, and many do so. For example, we are the No. 1 global destination for Chinese students—ahead of the United States. These…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationAs I have said, our priority is continuity of trade. We want to ensure that we get the roll-over of as many of those agreements—and as large a proportion—as possible. Where that…13 Feb 2019HANSARDEU Trade Agreements: ReplicationI am grateful for the way in which the hon. Lady continues to press the importance of this issue; it is a view that I share. We set out in our legislation that we would publish…13 Feb 2019