Trade Talks with India, Greenland and Israel

Earl of Kinnoull Excerpts
Wednesday 9th March 2022

(2 years, 1 month ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Portrait Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)
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My Lords, it is a great pleasure to be congratulated by the noble Baroness; I have a high respect for her and for the committee she chairs. I apologise that there was a little bit of confusion in the timing of the New Zealand publication. It was a bureaucratic error because so much was going on, and I apologise to the noble Baroness and the House for that short delay.

Earl of Kinnoull Portrait The Earl of Kinnoull (CB)
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My Lords, Article 218 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union deals with all agreements between the EU and third countries. It says:

“The European Parliament shall be immediately and fully informed at all stages”.


Through this article, the scrutiny processes of the committee of this House were engaged. Why was this piece of EU law not retained?

Lord Grimstone of Boscobel Portrait Lord Grimstone of Boscobel (Con)
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My Lords, the Government have put in place a suite of enhanced scrutiny arrangements that go well beyond our statutory obligations, so we have no need to refer back to EU law in that instance.