Contributions
1,122 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)I have made my point already about chlorinated chicken, and my hon. Friend raises that concern again. The point that I was specifically referring to is the significance of GIs for…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)The hon. Gentleman opens up a whole new area for discussion and I am grateful to him for doing so. Let me confess in these secret discussions here in this House that the biggest…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)My hon. Friend is right. I fear that if Ministers persist with their refusal to give the House of Commons greater opportunities to scrutinise and vote on trade deals, her…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)My hon. Friend is right. I recognise the temptation, having been a Minister for Trade, to fear scrutiny—to fear being asked detailed questions about rules of origin and things…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)That is a very good point. Specific Japanese automotive manufacturers such as Nissan have been very public with their concerns about the way trade negotiations are going. In that…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)There is perhaps an even better example to use in comparing the lack of parliamentary scrutiny of a potential UK-US deal, or any other free trade agreement deal, with existing…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)My hon. Friend will remember that Professor Winters described the information he got back from negotiators about how the UK-Japan talks were going as “studiously” vague. Is that…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)Harrow is always going to beat Brent.23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Fifth sitting)I draw my hon. Friend’s attention to the document that he briefly referred to: the Command Paper, “Processes for making free trade agreements after the United Kingdom has left the…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)Is not the significance of the intervention from the hon. Member for Witney the fact that it underlines the need for a proper opportunity for the House to consider the impacts of…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)The Minister is referring to the voluntary tabling of reports. At Report stage of the last Trade Bill, Ministers were going to put that on the statute book. Why the change this…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)I simply make the point that the most significant of the so-called continuity trade agreements—with the exception of Singapore and what Sam Lowe described as phase 1 of the South…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)In relation to amendment 5, will the Minister confirm that there is no current legislative requirement for the Government to hold either a debate or a vote on any UK-US deal they…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)What the Minister’s brief may not have told him was that the provisions that implemented the relevant CRAG power came into force as a result of his Government’s decision in…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)In the spirit of openness about future free trade agreements to which the Minister says he is committed, can he confirm to the Committee, given the concerns that exist about a…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)The Command Paper that the Minister’s colleagues published last February committed the Government to publishing reports at the end of each negotiating round. Is that still a…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)I am sure that the Minister would not wish to imply that the majority of witnesses simply supported the existing parliamentary scrutiny processes for trade agreements in general.…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)What we find objectionable is the lack of proper scrutiny in the process. That is the significant issue. I gently say to the Minister, he has not so far advanced an answer—I am…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)I want to press the Minister on the proposals that were in the Command Paper last year. He has not quite answered us on that. The Command Paper said clearly that the Government…23 Jun 2020HANSARDTrade Bill (Sixth sitting)In the Command Paper published in February last year, the Government committed during negotiations to publish and lay before Parliament a round report following each substantive…23 Jun 2020