Comprehensive Economic Partnership (EUC Report)

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2020 Grand Committee

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Lord, Lord Goldsmith, and his committee for securing this debate and for their excellent report, which has been most helpful in preparing today.

I also welcome most warmly the noble Lord, Lord Darroch of Kew, and congratulate him on his maiden speech. I take this opportunity to thank him for all the help he provided me in my capacity as MEP when he was at the UK representation and its help in briefing MEPs for debates in the European Parliament.

The noble Lord, Lord Liddle, and others have spoken of the asymmetry and imbalance in the rollover agreements that have been secured to date. I think it was the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, who secured our debate in the previous Parliament on our agreement with the Faroe Islands, to which we export £90 million—mostly fish—but from which we import £200 million, mostly fish. The noble Lord, Lord Liddle, set out the asymmetry in the agreement before us today.

I welcome the Minister and am delighted to see him in his place today. I take this opportunity to pick up on some his remarks in the form of questions that I hope he will be able to answer. What stood out in the agreement, but which I do not think anyone has mentioned today, are the state aid rules and the rules on subsidies, which are much stricter and reflect the state aid rules we currently have as a member of the single market since the new arrangements came into place. In much the same way as my friend, the noble Baroness, Lady Henig, asked about the deal currently being negotiated, surely my noble friend and his department would wish to move by maintaining the current state aid rules that we have with the European Union if that were to mean that we could close in on a deal on our future relationship with a proper free trade agreement there.

The noble Lord, Lord Trees, asked who will uphold our animal health and environmental protection standards in any future trade deal. I hope my noble friend Lord Grimstone will reply that it will indeed be the Trade and Agriculture Commission. That begs the question that several noble Lords have posed in the debate today about the scrutiny that will be permitted of future trade deals. I hope my noble friend will have a chance to consider the amendment that several of us—I like to think the four wise ladies—have tabled to the Trade Bill to allow sufficient time to scrutinise not just free trade agreements but the recommendations of future Trade and Agriculture Commission reports to enable us to view the criteria it has set and its recommendations on to what extent such agreements reflect and follow those criteria. I congratulate my noble friend and his department on moving to ensure that the commission will have a degree of permanence, which I hope will be further extended before the initial three-year term expires.

I also pay tribute to my right honourable friend Elizabeth Truss, the Secretary of State for Trade. She appointed the first ever agriculture attaché to Beijing, which at the time and since has brought enormous benefits, particularly in the agri-foods sector, which I care about passionately, and more especially in pork. It has enabled all the pork parts that we do not savour in this country to be exported to China and other countries. I hope that, as my noble friend Lord Lansley said, that will be a forerunner and that we will see many more such examples. Learning from a small country like Denmark, it never ceases to amaze me that its exports of agricultural foods often outstrip our own.

I welcome this rollover agreement, although I regret that it is perhaps imbalanced in favour of Japan. However, I hope that it will be the forerunner to others. I hope also that before the 31 December deadline is reached, this House will have had a chance to approve a trade deal on our future relations with the European Union.