Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Thursday 3rd May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Davis]

All of the implementation period issues are currently under discussion. I am not sure, frankly, that we will put the hon. Lady’s proposal at the top of the priority list, but we certainly aim to cover issues such as audit in the joint committee.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

Can the Secretary of State name one country that has said, “As long as you leave the customs union, we’ll give you a much better free trade agreement than you have or could have had?”

EU Exit Negotiations

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Tuesday 5th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

Yes, my hon. Friend is exactly right on both counts.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

Despite trying to cave in on every EU ask so far, the Government have not been able to conclude the preliminary negotiations in 18 months, yet we are to believe that they will conclude the substantive negotiations in 15 months. They have not been able to agree a good deal with the DUP, yet we are to believe that they will get a good deal from the 27 member states. It is obvious that they do not know a good deal from a bad deal and we are heading towards a no-deal scenario, so when will they start planning and present transparent information on the implications?

[Mr Davis]

The hon. Gentleman seems to be having an argument with himself in that question. It is seven months of negotiation so far and it will be concluded.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Thursday 2nd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are better informed as a result of the insistence of the right hon. Gentleman on including in his answer any consideration that might be thought, in any way at any time, to be in any degree material.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

In the event of a no deal, why would the EU agree to a transitional period?

[Mr Davis]

In the light of your comments, Mr Speaker, the hon. Gentleman will have to ask the European Union that.

Leaving the EU: Parliamentary Vote

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Thursday 26th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

As I said earlier, what Mr Barnier is aiming for is October next year as the outcome for the draft agreement. If we hit that, the likely timetable, as I think I said to the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), would be for the European Parliament to address that in December, January or even later, and the undertaking I gave was that we will come to this House before then.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State’s pledge is that a meaningful vote will be taken and that we will have full knowledge of all the facts. When will he issue the UK Government’s impact analysis showing the possible detriment to Scotland, so that I can explain to my constituents the reasons for casting the vote that I am going to cast?

EU Exit Negotiations

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Tuesday 17th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend, and, indeed, a number of British businesses are doing just that.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

As I have told the House before, my wife is an EU citizen, and I can assure the Secretary of State that his comments today will not give her any more comfort about her settled status in the future. What EU citizens want are guarantees. On the process to which he has alluded, what does a streamlined system look like? What does low cost mean, because I am sure that his definition is different from that of my constituents? How many additional resources will be employed by the Home Office to put that system in operation?

[Mr Davis]

The Home Office is already working on that and we will be publishing a White Paper in due course and bringing a Bill to that effect before the House.

Article 50

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Tuesday 24th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

From what I remember of my hon. Friend’s constituency, there are enough Members of the upper House in it for him to be able to tell them himself.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State talks about not thwarting the will of the people. Will he finally recognise that 62% of people in Scotland voted to stay? The Scottish Government are not asking for a veto; they are asking for a compromise that would allow Scotland to maintain membership of the single market. When will the Secretary of State work with them to achieve that?

[Mr Davis]

As I have said to several of the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues, we work in the Joint Ministerial Committee, we work bilaterally, and we seek to protect the interests of the whole United Kingdom, not least Scotland.

New Partnership with the EU

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Tuesday 17th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. The common commercial policy prevents us from making such deals, which is why we have come to the conclusion that we have.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

The 12-point fantasy wish list includes the UK doing away with free movement, coming out of the customs union and leaving the single market, yet we are to maintain a common travel area and free movement with Ireland. How can that work for Ireland, when we are constantly told that such arrangements would not be possible between Scotland and England?

[Mr Davis]

That was an interestingly conflated question. If I remember correctly, the common travel area started in 1923 and has nothing to do with the European Union.

Article 50

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Monday 7th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

Yes, my hon. Friend is exactly right. A second referendum would give those on the other side in the negotiations—the European Union—an incentive to give us the worst possible deal to try to force the British people to change their mind. That would be entirely improper.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State obviously does not challenge his speechwriter much, because nothing changes from statement to statement. The High Court has just made a judgment on something that, at one time, he was fully in agreement with. So, for the third time of asking, will he tell us why he now disagrees with the Bill that he tried to bring forward? It was not about going to war; it was about the Crown prerogative not being exercised without the assent of the House.

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Just before the Secretary of State responds—which I am disinclined to facilitate him doing—I must just say that although I appreciate that repetition is a common phenomenon in politics and not in itself to be deprecated, there is a bit of a tendency on the Scottish National party’s Benches to keep asking him about matters for which he is no longer responsible. The questioning is to the Secretary of State in his capacity as Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, not in his capacity as someone who previously expressed views from the Back Benches or elsewhere in an earlier incarnation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Thursday 20th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

I reiterate that my Department’s task is to bring decisions back to the United Kingdom so that the British Government and the British Parliament can make them in the interests of the United Kingdom. My right hon. Friend can be absolutely sure that those interests will not be interpreted into somehow denying staff to the NHS—just the reverse.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

The Secretary of State said yet again that there will be no running commentary on the negotiations. Yesterday, the Chancellor announced plans to protect financial services workers over other EU nationals. Did the Secretary of State agree that strategy with the Chancellor or is it just proof that the Government do not have a clue what they are doing?

[Mr Davis]

As I have said several times in debates that the hon. Gentleman has attended, I will make as much information public as possible without prejudicing our negotiating position. That is what he is witnessing.

Next Steps in Leaving the European Union

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Monday 10th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

First, I spent some time talking to Ms Fairburn a few weeks ago. She knows what the objectives are, and they are the same as I have given here—that we get the best possible access. I suspect that if she is asked she will say that getting the right outcome is more important than talking about the right outcome. That is what we intend to do.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

As the last man standing, what chance do I have of actually getting anything out of the Secretary of State? He has spent his whole life planning for this big day in the sun, yet he is like a rabbit caught in headlights. Today’s is his second statement, full of bingo buzzwords—“sovereignty”, “control”, “the right deal for Britain”, “mandate”. We have heard it all before and it adds nothing to the argument. One addition we had is “outward-looking”, which is very ironic in the week after the Tory conference. We hear that he cannot give a running commentary on negotiations; last week we got a running commentary on how foreigners are going to be targeted in future, and then he stands there and talks about divisive nationalism. When will he take control, develop a coherent plan and advise this House about what is going to happen, how he will involve the devolved Administrations and how he will protect the rights of EU nationals living here?

[Mr Davis]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on being the last man standing. All I will say in response to that rant is that it is particularly ironic for the Scottish National party of all things to say that mandate and control do not matter.

Exiting the European Union

Debate between David Davis and Alan Brown

Monday 5th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

What it certainly tells us is that the business community is not as afraid of this great new opportunity as was claimed before the referendum. I do not want to re-run the arguments of the leave campaign, but let me say that while market movements in stock markets are volatile, small and often reverse themselves, what do not reverse themselves are large inward investments. In the year in which our party committed to give the referendum, we had the largest inward investment in our history.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

I congratulate the Secretary of State who has clearly learned the lessons from the leave campaign because he has said nothing at all today. His statement was 15 minutes of waffle and soundbites about “national consensus”, “interests of the entire nation” and “one nation”, which is completely at odds with the fact that 62% of the electorate in Scotland voted to remain. This does not bode well for meaningful input from the Scottish Government. Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm the claim made during the campaign by the right hon. Member for North Somerset (Dr Fox), now the Secretary of State for International Trade, that Scotland would suddenly have control of a whole new raft of powers, including over immigration—or was that a piece of nonsense, too?

[Mr Davis]

I do not think that my right hon. Friend was referring to immigration; I suspect he was referring to fishing. What certainly will be the case is that we will take back control of UK fishing rights.