EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Earl of Sandwich Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Sandwich (CB) [V]]

My Lords, this agreement has offended against CRaG scrutiny and all our normal procedures for passing legislation; our constitutional experts are either outraged or turning in their graves. It was passed into law through remarkable sleight of hand—otherwise known as the blackmail of the cliff edge. Those of us who had three minutes last week had to splutter short sentences—and today, with two more minutes, we are hardly able to complete them.

Of course, I agree with the Constitution Committee’s call for urgent post-legislative scrutiny, and I look forward to the work of the new EU committees. The Commons Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union has already started hearing expert witnesses on the deal, and it is not all negative, even on security. They are now politely calling it a “framework deal”, but I would call it a mess. Before there are any real answers from these inquiries, it will go to the European Parliament, although it will have difficulty in changing any of it. At least we will be able to learn from it as ex-members, but it is a sorry situation for UK parliamentarians—but that has been said many times.

The part that will interest the Euro MPs particularly concerns level-playing-field commitments, which the Commission describes as “ambitious”: workers’ and consumer rights, environmental protection, the fight against climate change and tax transparency. They will also discuss rules of origin, which undoubtedly bring potential gains for both the UK and the EU—so there is a lot to play for.

When the Prime Minister is not trying to please his Brexiteers, he can be almost European, one might say—after all, he has lived and worked in Europe, and he was brought up as a European. More recently, he has paid compliments to Frau von der Leyen—so I guess he must be a Europhile after all.