Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability

Debate between Lord Grimstone of Boscobel and Lord Fowler

Monday 11th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, absolutely; I am happy to give that assurance on these important areas. We certainly did not see that an advantage of leaving the European Union would be that we could lower standards in these areas.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked. We now come to the second Oral Question.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Debate between Lord Grimstone of Boscobel and Lord Fowler

Tuesday 15th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

We are watching RCEP closely, but at least six ASEAN and three non- ASEAN signatories need to ratify the agreement before it enters into force, and there is then a gap of 18 months before any other country can enter—so it would be many years before it would even be possible for us to consider entry into RCEP.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

I call the noble Lord, Lord Haskel. Lord Haskel? No? We will move on.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, before looking to very long-term ambitions for joining regional economic partnerships, is it not better for the Government to focus absolutely on the trade agreements that we already have and are struggling to roll over? The update from the Government yesterday says that, for the first time that we know of, we will, from 1 January, be trading on WTO terms with countries that we had a trade agreement with before—a real failure of this Government. One of the RCEP countries is Vietnam; when will we see the details for the rollover agreement for Vietnam so that we can debate it in this Parliament and judge whether the Government are performing as they should be?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, only a small handful of agreements have not yet been concluded. We are anxious and keen to conclude those but, of course, it takes two to make a trade agreement, and we are in the hands of our partners for the timing of some of those.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked, and we now move to the next Question.

Intellectual Property Rights: Affordable Drugs

Debate between Lord Grimstone of Boscobel and Lord Fowler

Monday 30th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

The right reverend Prelate asks an excellent question. I am not aware of the details of any discussions of that sort; to ensure that I can give him a complete answer, I will write to him on that also.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

I call the noble Baroness, Lady Clark of Kilwinning. No? I call the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, how are we assisting countries to take advantage of the flexibilities in the current rules on this TRIPS issue? Can we do more to help them access these drugs affordably?

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

Our posts on the ground well know the importance of this. We try to bring these flexibilities home to these countries through all available channels; one would hope that they would use these flexibilities, as they would be so much to their advantage.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, the time allowed for this Question has elapsed.

Trade: Trans-Pacific Partnership

Debate between Lord Grimstone of Boscobel and Lord Fowler

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

My Lords, I am not familiar with my noble friend’s reference, but I will certainly look that strategy up and consider it in our future efforts in this area.

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

My Lords, all supplementary questions have been asked.