EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Morris of Aberavon Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Morris of Aberavon (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, may I make three short points if there is time? First, my family have been Welsh sheep breeders for centuries and continue to do so in three Welsh counties. Hill sheep farms are small, and imaginative plans for new environmental subsidies do little to help their budgets. An export tax of more than 40% on lamb would have put them out of business and, indeed, a way of life. Hence the agreement is a huge relief, and I welcome it as the best of a bad job.

Secondly, the Home Secretary claims that Brexit makes us safer. A letter in yesterday’s Times from Mr Hepburne-Scott, a barrister, finds that at Westminster Magistrates’ Court there were nil extra extradition warrant cases so far this week, compared to often up to 10 cases a day under the old European arrest warrant. This is the direct result of losing fast access to European crime/DNA databases. I endorse the comments made by my noble friend Lord Blunkett, and I would be grateful for the Minister’s comments today, or in correspondence, on this very issue.

Had there been time, I would have expanded on my third point. I would have raised the issue of the reports of problems of freight transport and inadequate paperwork. What are the Government doing to remedy this? The noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, raised the issue of the state of the infrastructure at Holyhead and Fishguard. They both serve the Republic of Ireland. Likewise, the port in the north of England supports trade to Northern Ireland. What is the state of play regarding the infrastructure at all ports serving the island of Ireland?