Written Statements
Instrument of Accession to CPTPP
(1 month, 1 week ago)
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The Minister for Trade Policy (Greg Hands)
Today the UK officially announced the deposit of its instrument of accession to the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership. With this significant moment, the UK has moved a vital step closer to acceding to one of the largest free trade areas in the world. CPTPP currently accounts for almost 12% of global GDP, and when the UK becomes a full party to the agreement, this will increase to almost 15% of GDP, or over £12 trillion, according to 2023 data.
The UK will be the first country to accede to CPTPP and will be the first European member. Our accession will place us at the heart of the Indo-Pacific, a region that will be crucial both economically and strategically in the coming decades. It will also mean we are well placed to benefit from any future changes to the rules of the agreement, and from any future expansion of the agreement, on which the UK will have a full say.
Through CPTPP, we will have free trade deals with Malaysia and Brunei for the first time—economies with a combined GDP of over £340 billion in 2023. We will also see gains over and above a number of the bilateral agreements that we already have with CPTPP parties, bringing new market access opportunities for UK businesses. Overall, our accession to the agreement could boost UK GDP by around £2 billion each and every year in the long run when compared to projected GDP in 2040, and is expected to benefit every nation and region in the UK.
Our accession will also ensure appropriate protections for UK interests. We have agreed quotas which permanently limit annual additional imports from major producers of the most sensitive agricultural products, and we have ensured that CPTPP preserves the UK’s right to regulate to protect human, animal and plant life and health. All food and drink products imported into the UK will still have to meet the respective food safety and biosecurity standards for the UK. Likewise, in acceding to CPTPP we will not be changing any of our high domestic standards of environmental protection or our labour standards. We have also ensured protections for key public services, including the NHS.
The UK has now completed the key processes required to join the CPTPP. As well as the UK’s own processes, the other CPTPP parties need to complete their own respective applicable legal processes for entry into force of the protocol. CPTPP parties have different domestic procedures and scrutiny obligations to complete, which vary depending on the country.
The accession protocol sets out that the agreement will enter into force for the UK 60 days after all parties and the UK have each notified the CPTPP depositary. Notification would follow the completion of relevant domestic procedures. After 15 months have passed since signature, which falls in October 2024, the mechanism changes and the protocol can enter into force 60 days after a minimum of six parties and the UK have each notified. If at least six parties and the UK have already notified within 15 months of signature, entry into force would take place 60 days after the October date. We therefore expect that the UK’s accession should enter into force by the end of 2024.
Japan, Singapore and Chile have already completed their respective applicable legal processes for entry into force of the protocol, and we welcome the support of every party so that all our businesses and consumers can reap the rewards of the UK joining the deal as soon as possible.
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Trade and Co-operation Agreement Partnership Council: Third Meeting
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
My noble Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton) has today made the following statement:
The Trade and Co-operation Agreement Partnership Council met yesterday, 16 May 2024, in Brussels, with delegates attending in person and by video conference.
The meeting was co-chaired by myself and the executive vice-president of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič. Representatives from the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive attended, as did representatives from the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey. Twenty-seven EU member state representatives also attended. A joint statement was agreed and published on gov.uk.
The partnership council discussed implementation of the TCA and co-operation in a wide range of important areas, including energy and climate, trade and level playing field, health security, fisheries and wider security, and reaffirmed our commitment to fully exploiting the potential the TCA has to offer.
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Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee: Thirteenth Meeting
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
My noble Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton) has today made the following statement:
The Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee met on 16 May, in Brussels, with delegates attending in person and by video conference. The meeting was co-chaired by myself and European Commission Executive Vice-President, Maroš Šefčovič. A joint statement was agreed and published on gov.uk.
We welcomed the work on the implementation of the withdrawal agreement to date, in particular on citizens’ rights, and progress on the implementation of the Windsor framework.
Under citizens’ rights, we reiterated our commitment to protect the rights of the millions of respective citizens across the UK and the EU. We welcomed the co-operation between the EU and UK and agreed that this work should intensify further, with a view to finding solutions to the outstanding issues in this area.
For the Windsor framework, we took stock of progress on the implementation of the Windsor framework, which has delivered significant benefits for people and businesses in Northern Ireland, and we both welcomed the restoration of the political institutions in Northern Ireland in February 2024. We adopted decisions on the implementation of the Windsor framework and agreed a corrigendum to Joint Committee Decision No. 1/2023.
Alongside this we also received an update on the work of the Withdrawal Agreement Specialised Committees since the last meeting on 28 September 2023 and adopted the withdrawal agreement annual report for the year 2023, pursuant to Article 164(6) of the Withdrawal agreement.
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