UK Exports

Debate between Baroness Mobarik and Lord Rooker

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Mobarik]

I assure my noble friend that the Department for International Trade has been engaging widely with individual businesses and trade associations since the referendum and will continue to do so. We are committed to fully understanding the views of stakeholders, limiting uncertainty and ensuring that we build a trading environment that works for everyone.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

What percentage of companies in the UK that the Department for International Trade has been dealing with are owned outside the UK so that the key decisions are made in boardrooms outside this country?

[Baroness Mobarik]

I am afraid that I do not have the exact numbers but I will endeavour to write to the noble Lord with that information.

Principle of Comparative Advantage: Bicentenary

Debate between Baroness Mobarik and Lord Rooker

Tuesday 17th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Mobarik]

I absolutely agree with my noble friend. To reinforce that, according to the World Bank, in the three decades between 1981 and 2011 liberalised trade practices in the developing world saw the proportion of their citizens living on less than $1.25 a day fall from 50% to under 20%. This represents the greatest decrease in material deprivation in human history.

[Lord Rooker (Lab)]

Do the principles of free trade mean that after we leave the EU this country will be flooded with American beef stuffed with hormones, which, while we are members of the EU, we are protected from?

[Baroness Mobarik]

No, I do not think that would be the case.