Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Lord Lansley Excerpts

Wednesday 18th November 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

The noble Baroness makes a good point. It is important that the impact assessments that we produce for each of these agreements cover these matters fully. If Parliament has this information, our debates can be more comprehensive and effective. As she says, these are extremely important matters.

[Lord Lansley (Con) [V]]

My Lords, I am a member of the International Agreements Sub-Committee. It is our job to report to this House on these continuity trade agreements. On 3 November, Ministers signed the agreement with Kenya which will come into force on 1 January. We have not yet seen the text of this agreement. If it is a copy and paste, why not share it immediately? If it involves new commitments, does not Parliament especially need to scrutinise them? When will we see it? How are we to conduct parliamentary scrutiny before it comes into force? If we do not, is this not unsatisfactory?

[Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)]

I pay tribute to the work done by the IAC. It is a very effective mechanism. My noble friend referred specifically to the Kenya agreement. Agreement in principle has been reached but some loose ends are still being tied up with the Kenyan authorities. As soon as the agreement is signed, it will follow the normal processes and there will be full parliamentary scrutiny allowed.