Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for merger review and anti-competitive activity in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In September 2018 the Government published the guidance, “Merger review and anti-competitive activity if there's no Brexit deal”. Since then, the Government has legislated for the necessary changes to UK law through the Competition (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. These regulations were approved by Parliament in January. They ensure that in the event of the UK leaving the European Union without a deal, the UK domestic competition regime will continue to operate effectively to address anti-competitive activity and review merger activity. The Government is working closely with the Competition and Markets Authority as it prepares for the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what additional procedures companies will face in order to trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal; and whether those procedures will be different to procedures at any other UK border.
Answered by James Duddridge
The Government is steadfast in our commitment to the Belfast Agreement and will do everything in our power to ensure no return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
On 13 March, the UK Government announced a unilateral approach to checks, processes and tariffs for trade moving from Ireland to Northern Ireland. This policy aims to retain the status quo as far as possible by doing all we can to avoid a hard border. This approach is strictly temporary.
The UK Government will not introduce any new checks or controls on goods crossing from Ireland to Northern Ireland, including any new customs declarations for nearly all goods. The UK temporary tariff regime would therefore not apply to goods crossing from Ireland into Northern Ireland.
We would need to apply a small number of measures strictly necessary to comply with international legal obligations, protect the biosecurity of the island of Ireland, or to avoid the highest risks to Northern Ireland businesses - but these measures would not require checks at the border. Expressly:
Businesses pay VAT and Excise on goods from Ireland today and the UK Government would continue to collect these taxes on Irish goods in future. Small businesses trading across the border and not currently VAT registered would be able to report VAT online periodically without any new processes at the border. Traders would need to make electronic declarations for excise goods.
To protect human, animal, and plant health, animals and animal products from countries outside the EU would need to enter Northern Ireland through a designated entry point and regulated plant material from outside the EU and high risk EU plant material would require certification. Plants and plant products which have not been previously checked by an EU Member state would need to be pre-notified before arriving in the UK and checked at authorised inland trade premises.
To fulfil essential international obligations, there would be new UK import requirements such as checks on documents or registration for a very limited set of goods, such as endangered species and hazardous chemicals. This would not involve any infrastructure or checks at the border including in Northern Ireland.
Because these are unilateral measures, they only mitigate the impact of exit that are within the UK Government’s control. These measures do not set out the position in respect of tariffs or processes to be applied to goods moving from Northern Ireland to Ireland. The Irish Government has so far not set out their position on the procedures for goods moving across the land border from Northern Ireland to Ireland.
In a no deal scenario, we are committed to entering into discussions urgently with the European Commission and the Irish Government to jointly agree long-term measures to avoid a hard border.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether UK workers spending longer than 90 out of 180 days in the EU will be subject to additional (a) administration, (b) costs, and (c) visas in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In the event of no deal, the European Union will grant UK citizens visa-free travel to the EU and Schengen-associated countries for business meetings, training, attending conferences, sports/cultural events and short-term study for up to 90 days in any 180 day period.
If UK citizens are undertaking activity outside of these areas, or intend to stay for more than 90 days in any 180 day period, they will need to check with their EU host country authorities on their status. This is because visa and work permit requirements vary between Member States. This may involve some administrative processes and costs, and again this will depend on the country visited and the activity undertaken.
The Government has published guidance on travel, work and provision of services to EU and EFTA countries in the event of no deal, including guidance on business travel and visa requirements. This can be found on Gov.uk at the following addresses:
https://http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/providing-services-to-eea-and-efta-countries-after-eu-exit
https://http://www.gov.uk/visit-europe-brexit
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by his Department, what parts of the plan for structuring businesses in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
If the United Kingdom were to leave the European Union without a withdrawal agreement in place, UK businesses would be treated as businesses from a “third country” in the EU, and vice versa. The guidance[1] on structuring businesses in the event of “no deal” sets out the implications of this for businesses operating across the EU/UK border.
The Statutory Instruments referenced in this guidance have now been made:
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/structuring-your-business-if-theres-no-brexit-deal--2/structuring-your-business-if-theres-no-brexit-deal
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to his Department's Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, which parts of the Government’s plan for consumer rights in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In October 2018 the Government published the guidance, “Consumer rights if there’s no Brexit deal”. Since then, the Government has legislated for the necessary changes to UK law through five consumer statutory instruments, all of which have been made. They ensure that in the event of the UK leaving the European Union without a deal, UK consumers retain the protections they currently have when buying from UK businesses.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, which parts of the Government’s plan for maintaining environmental standards in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
In reference to the technical notice issued, most of the necessary legislative work has been undertaken in Parliament and the devolved administrations. There is a small number of statutory instruments to be undertaken as further changes in EU law are anticipated.
Draft clauses have been prepared for the Environment Bill to include the establishment of the Office of Environmental Protection, which is due to proceed in the next Parliamentary session.
IT systems are already in place for the government, regulators and competent authorities to undertake any regulatory duties.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what parts of the Government’s plan for sanctions policy in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Government is ready to implement sanctions if we leave the EU in a no deal scenario. It has laid Statutory Instruments (SIs) for 18 priority geographic and thematic sanctions regimes under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act (2018). Retained EU law will maintain the remainder as the Government continues to lay SIs; all sanctions regimes will be under domestic legislation by the end of the year. We have also reviewed and strengthened all our individual designation evidence and prepared processes for the efficient and robust operation of our sanctions. As international law requires, the United Kingdom will implement UN sanctions regimes in domestic law after withdrawal from the EU, using the powers in the Act.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress the Government has made in planning for farm payments in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Eustice
The Government has pledged to continue to commit the same cash total in funds for farm support until the end of this Parliament, expected in 2022; this includes all funding provided for farm support under both Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 of the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This commitment applies to the whole of the UK.
The Government has further guaranteed that the current level of agricultural funding under CAP Pillar 1 will be upheld until 2020, as part of the transition to new domestic arrangements.
To deliver this, Defra has made a number of statutory instruments under the powers in the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. These statutory instruments provide certainty and stability to individuals and businesses by maintaining the current approach, ensuring the relevant EU-derived domestic legislation is operable following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, and allowing the current CAP arrangements to continue to operate and payments to beneficiaries to be made.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Guidance on how to prepare for Brexit if there's no deal, published by the Department for Exiting the European Union, what parts of the plan for receiving rural development funding in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal have been implemented.
Answered by George Eustice
The UK Government has guaranteed that any rural development projects where funding has been agreed before the end of 2020 will be funded for their full lifetime.
This means in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal there will be no substantive change for farmers, land manages and rural businesses who have agreements funded by the UK Rural Development Programmes (RDP) due to finish after 31 October 2019, and existing application and contracting arrangements remain in place for those planning to seek funding after this date but before the end of 2020.
We will continue to update information about the RDP for England and the schemes open for applications on the rural grants and payment pages of GOV.UK.
Asked by: Chuka Umunna (Liberal Democrat - Streatham)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which parts of the Government’s plan for European Regional Development funding in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal (a) have and (b) have not been implemented.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
In the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal, the Government has guaranteed Horizon 2020, European Territorial Co-Operation, European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund funding due to UK organisations, in line with the Technical Notices published on these issues. BEIS and other delivery organisations have well-developed contingency plans to implement this guarantee, if required. I refer the hon. Member to the technical notices published by the government on the guarantee, and the funds covered by it, for further details.