Brexit: World Trade Organization Rules

Lord Leigh of Hurley Excerpts

Monday 19th December 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Price]

As the noble Lord knows well, the Government are still working towards their position for Article 50. They take in views from all sides. As I understand it, we have 20 different Select Committee reports coming to the Government in January alone. I have visited 21 countries over the past four months and I have spoken to 200 businesses and over 2,000 business people. We are open to listening to all parts of the debate and I welcome the report from the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, and this House, which was considered and thoughtful.

[Lord Leigh of Hurley (Con)]

What capacity does my noble friend’s department have for these negotiations in terms of experienced and competent negotiators?

[Lord Price]

In June of this year, the Trade Policy Group had 45 people working in it. We have now quadrupled that number, and we plan to increase it further next year to around 300 people. More than 1,000 people from outside have applied to work in the department, feeling that it is an exciting place to work at this time.