Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Thursday 8th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Rob Roberts (Delyn) (Con)]

What assessment she has made of the potential effect on farmers and food producers of the free trade agreement with Japan.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

What steps she is taking to maintain the UK’s (a) food and (b) animal welfare standards in future free trade agreements.

[The Secretary of State for International Trade (Elizabeth Truss)]

The deal with Japan will go further and faster than we had under the EU, including by increasing the number of geographical indications from seven in the EU-Japan deal to up to 70 in our new agreement, from Cornish clotted cream to Scotch beef. Furthermore, Japan has guaranteed market access for UK malt exports under an existing quota, which is more generous and easier to access than the EU quota.

--- Later in debate ---

[Elizabeth Truss]

Welsh lamb is some of the best in the world, and in the new Japan trade deal, Welsh lamb will be recognised as a GI for the first time. We got our first Welsh and British lamb into Japan for over 20 years last year, opening up a market worth £52 million. My next target is to get the ban on lamb removed in the United States, which would be a huge market. The US is the second largest lamb importer in the world.

[Andrew Gwynne [V]]

I was interested to read that the members of the Trade and Agriculture Commission were calling for parliamentary scrutiny on all future trade deals. The head of the Government’s Food Commission has said the same, so can the Secretary of State show that she is listening to her advisers by guaranteeing this House of Commons a debate and a vote in Government time on any trade deal with the USA?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I can confirm that we will have a world-leading scrutiny process, comparable with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. That will mean the International Trade Committee scrutinising a signed version of the deal and producing a report to Parliament, a debate taking place and then, through the CRaG—the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010—process, Parliament can block any trade deal if it is not happy with it.