Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bowie]

The trade deals with New Zealand and Australia are great deals for British exporters and this country. As I said, unlike the Scottish National party, we are committed to championing Scottish and British exports and food and drink around the world, not creating negativity. It is time that the hon. Gentleman championed great British exporters—great Aberdeenshire exporters—instead of coming here with all that scare- mongering and negativity, as he does weekly.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

2. What steps her Department is taking to increase trade opportunities for the financial services sector.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Nigel Huddleston)]

The Department for International Trade is absolutely committed to increasing trade opportunities for the UK financial services sector. Through our network of in-market sector specialists located in Europe, India, Singapore and beyond, the Department is identifying and removing market access barriers and supporting companies to export their services to the world. Working with organisations such as the City of London, the Investment Association and others, we are promoting the UK’s world-class financial services overseas. We are also championing financial services through our free trade agreements.

[Sir Desmond Swayne]

Has the Minister a programme of support for fintech and start-ups in that sector?

[Nigel Huddleston]

I thank my right hon. Friend for raising that sector, which is hugely important to the UK economy and a major export generator. Our export strategy, which we published last year, outlines the Government support available for British exporters, including the financial services sector. The strategy updates the Department’s support for services firms and helps to give businesses and financial tech innovators the flexibility and resilience to thrive and trade globally. As well as providing large amounts of online support and information, including webinars, the Department provides tailored support services—for example, through trade advisers—from which firms of all sizes can benefit.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

It amazes me that, even now, Brexit is still being blamed for everything. It is about time that the Opposition, who call other people complacent, paid attention to what is going on in the world and got off their personal hobby-horses. On car manufacturing, there is an issue with battery supply from the US, as everybody knows. We are doing everything that we can to support companies in getting the parts that they need. The export support service is doing a fantastic job, and I commend the officials who work in it.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

T4.   When couriers demand payment of duty on goods from the European Union, with which we have a free trade agreement, are we being ripped off?

[Kemi Badenoch]

Items moving between countries normally attract customs duty and import VAT, but my right hon. Friend will know that the trade and co-operation agreement means that there will be no customs duty on goods moving between Great Britain and the EU if the goods meet rules of origin. Delivery companies may charge their clients handling fees for moving products internationally, but the Government do not have control over those charges, which are a commercial matter.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 3rd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mike Freer]

I am not sure I am the one with the Brexit blind spot, but I have to say that the Government are working very hard with our trade industry groups and our representative bodies. I frequently meet those groups, ranging from the Federation of Small Businesses all the way up to the CBI. Officials, both here in London and in post, will work with specific Governments to eradicate any issues inter-country, where there is perhaps an overzealous interpretation of the rules. More deep-seated problems will be dealt with on a Government-to-Government level. If the hon. Lady has details of specific businesses and specific issues that she would care to share, I would be more than happy to ensure that the Export Support Service gets back to her or to her constituents who wish to export.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

UK aid promoted trade in Africa by making borders seamless through digitising all the administrative processes. Is that on our agenda for trade with the EU at all? It is monstrous that we are filling in forms.

UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his support and enthusiasm for this important deal with one of our closest allies and partners. Indeed, the AUKUS relationship is now developing and will be a very long-standing and close relationship, as we have had in many other ways. He raises an important point about local supply chains and the use of local goods, and I will make sure that that is passed on to my relevant colleagues.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Might the worries of those who are concerned about the increase in quotas over the next 15 years be assuaged somewhat by the fact that existing quotas are largely unused?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

My right hon. Friend makes an extremely important point. He highlights the fact that we should be reassured that our farmers have fantastic products that we will all, as UK consumers, want to continue to eat, and that indeed our Australian partners are keen to sell their products into the Asia-Pacific market, where there is a growing demand. We will also want to take up those market opportunities. That is why we are working very hard and very closely with those in the CPTPP to get an accession to that free trade group, because there we will have the opportunity to sell our fantastic produce to those Asia-Pacific markets too.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 25th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I agree with the hon. Lady that the atrocities committed by China in Xinjiang are abhorrent. The Government have taken firm action on supply chains and businesses doing business in that part of China, but expanding the role of the UK courts raises serious constitutional issues, and instead the issue needs to be addressed politically.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Are we using our position at the World Trade Organisation to counter reprehensible trading practices by China and others?

[Greg Hands]

I thank my right hon. Friend. He is right to identify these unfair practices in world trade. Put simply, for far too long, China has not been transparent, with practices such as industrial subsidies for state-owned enterprises, forced technology transfers and claiming special differential treatment. We will continue to work at the WTO and with G7 democracies to tighten up the rules and ensure that they are properly enforced.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary was recently in Israel talking about our close relationship with that important ally.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Would the Secretary of State even dream of doing a trade deal without the support of the House?

[Elizabeth Truss]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right; I would always seek the support not only of the House but of people across the United Kingdom, because we want every single trade deal we sign to benefit our businesses, our consumers and our country. However, if some doubtful people on the Opposition Benches do not believe me, there is protection, because under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 system any trade deal can be blocked by this House. Of course, I would never consider putting forward a trade deal that would not command the support of the House, but there is always that protection for those doubting Thomases on the Opposition Benches.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Gentleman is quite right to highlight the issue of trade’s role in parts of the world where human rights are being breached. Right across the Department, we seek to ensure that all such considerations are taken into account, while recognising the need to engage with regimes that may have less than perfect Governments, for the benefit of the people there. It is a balance that we take very seriously, and I look forward to further discussion with him to get it right.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

There are lessons for our strategy arising from Japan’s rather unsatisfactory negotiations with the EU, are there not?

[Graham Stuart]

We could look at Japan, or we could look at Mercosur, which took 20 years of negotiation. Some say that the UK shorn of the heft of the EU will be less able to do deals. There are ways in which that would be true, but fundamentally, with agility, as many countries have shown, we can do more deals more quickly and, most importantly, bring greater prosperity, employment and opportunity to my right hon. Friend’s constituents and mine as a result of the UK having its own independent trade policy for the first time in 40-odd years.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

Well, I can tell the hon. Gentleman that I am going to be in Yorkshire next Friday, visiting and talking to exporting businesses such as Bettys of Harrogate and Burberry in Leeds. If he wants to extend an invitation to me to visit an exporting business in Huddersfield, he should get on with it.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend be a champion for opening markets to the world’s least developed countries?

[Elizabeth Truss]

Absolutely. One of the great benefits of trade is the prosperity it can bring to some of the poorest countries in the world. Part of our no-deal tariff schedule is about ensuring that those countries are supported, but we will have a huge opportunity to open up more trade once we leave the EU. At the Commonwealth Trade Ministers meeting, we talked about just that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 11th July 2019 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

As ever, it is nice to know that the hon. Gentleman is consistently wrong. He talks about our investment figures, but investment into the United Kingdom was the third highest of any country in the world, and it was the highest in Europe. At a time when global foreign direct investment fell, it continued to rise in the UK. When it comes to tariffs, one reason the Government introduced the temporary tariff scheme was to stop a price shock in the UK, and one of the reasons for that is that those on lower incomes spend more on goods than services. Introducing liberalisation will help to protect consumers on lower incomes, and I would have thought even today’s Labour party might have supported that.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

T2. Can market access agreements be even more important than free trade agreements?

[The Minister for Trade Policy (George Hollingbery)]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. There are some huge opportunities in market access. Indeed, we have identified one potential change in China that, if negotiated, might be worth £10 billion of turnover over a considerable period through one regulation alone. Resources at the Department at the moment are necessarily skewed towards FTAs, because of the trade agreement continuity process, but they will in due course shift towards market access, which is terribly important.

Oral Answers to Questions

Desmond Swayne Excerpts

Thursday 6th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[George Hollingbery]

Certainly from the Department for International Trade point of view, our job is to promote international trade. We are out there making sure that the deals we do internationally suit those countries with which we do them. We are bringing in the unilateral preferences that are transitioning across from a European perspective. We are confident that the backing we can give developing countries is suitable for their circumstances, and allows them to participate in world trade and so bring their people out of poverty.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

I think we are spending £1.5 billion in the current period on climate change for less-developed nations, and the same amount—£1.5 billion—on promoting economic development and trade, so there is some synergy for us to work with, is there not?

[George Hollingbery]

There absolutely is. As we grow our capacity in this country, we have more capability of exporting and, indeed, advising others on climate change. Yes, we can work in countries on poverty reduction at the same time as promoting energy sustainability.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Murrison]

It is not a question of that not being a DFID policy; such a thing would be proscribed by the OECD and its development advisory committee. The proposal by my hon. Friend the Member for Kettering has merit, but it would not be proper for international development funds to be used for such a thing, and if we did so, it would not count towards the 0.7% to which we are committed.

[Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)]

When I was in the Minister’s position, I refused Foreign Office requests—indeed, instructions—to build a prison on Pitcairn to accommodate one prisoner. Will he assure me that he will not cave in?

[Dr Murrison]

I think I can reassure my right hon. Friend that I will in no way be caving in.