EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I welcome this agreement. It is certainly better than no agreement but, more importantly, it delivers to the people of the United Kingdom what a majority voted for, and for that the Prime Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Frost, and his negotiating team deserve great credit.

Could the agreement have been more extensive—less thin? Almost certainly it could have been, but on the one area I know something about—financial services— your Lordships should be cautious before being overly critical. Agreements on services are typically much more difficult to negotiate than those on goods. Financial services are especially difficult because of the complexity of financial products. Agreements in this area impact on the liquidity and solvency of banks, and therefore on the stability of the financial system as a whole.

I take great comfort from three things: first, that we start from a position of equivalence; secondly, that at present the Treasury and the Bank of England are working on a memorandum of understanding, due to be finished by March; and, thirdly, that the Economic Secretary to the Treasury in another place, John Glen, has made it abundantly clear that we have no desire to lower our prudential controls to win business. Therefore, I believe that unless one party is resolutely protectionist, we can secure a deal.

This is a vast subject but I say in conclusion that only rarely does a country—or, as in our case, a group of countries—have the possibility of resetting its direction of travel. This is just such a time for the UK: supporting enterprise; encouraging investment through saving, as the noble Lord, Lord King, said, in order to have wealth creation; renewing our democracy through less centralisation; and strengthening the institutions of civil society, starting with the family. I believe that Brexit has created a great opportunity for us, and it is now for us to respond.