Oral Answers to Questions

Graham Stuart Excerpts

Thursday 10th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Caroline Ansell (Eastbourne) (Con)]

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting the recovery of the UK’s English language teaching sector.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Graham Stuart)]

Happy birthday, Mr Speaker.

Recognising the challenges that the sector faces, both I and my co-chair of the education sector advisory group, the Minister for Universities, continue to engage with colleagues across Government to explore options for further support.

[Caroline Ansell [V]]

The English language is arguably this country’s most successful export. Covid has of course devastated the sector, and with the international scene still challenging, the impact goes on and is deep and wide even as other sectors recover. Will my hon. Friend meet me, a delegation of MPs and officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to work together to overcome the challenges that the sector faces and safeguard the future of this vital export, which is so important to Eastbourne and to the UK?

[Graham Stuart]

I would of course be delighted to meet my hon. Friend, and I congratulate her on her continued leadership in Parliament on behalf of her constituents and the country as a whole.

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

What recent progress she has made on negotiating new free trade agreements.

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[Jessica Morden (Newport East) (Lab)]

What steps her Department is taking to support UK steel exports.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Graham Stuart)]

We are working to de-escalate trade tensions that negatively impact steel exporters, including our pursuit of a permanent resolution to the US section 232 tariffs, which so unfairly harm the UK steel industry. I am pleased to say that in terms of the EU we have agreed tariff-rate quota allocations for UK steel exports, without which the industry could have been hit by a 25% tariff and an estimated cost of £80 million in the first half of this year alone.

[Jessica Morden]

Another penblwydd hapus to you, Mr Speaker.

The greatest step that Ministers can take to protect our exports is to protect our steel industry as a whole. As my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) asked earlier, will Ministers commit to working with Labour on a cross-party basis, as was promised in the Westminster Hall debate yesterday, to fix deficiencies in our trade remedies legislation and reverse the recommendations from the Trade Remedies Investigations Directorate that UK Steel has called “a hammer blow” to our industry?

[Graham Stuart]

The TRA has conducted a full review of the steel safeguard measure so that it applies to the UK in a proportionate and WTO-compliant manner. It is an independent body, as the hon. Lady knows, that provides unbiased evidence-based assessments of the need for remedies. For clarity, the Secretary of State—[Interruption.] It would be great to get through one answer without chuntering from the right hon. Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), but it seems to be impossible. The Secretary of State can only accept or reject the TRA recommendation as a whole; she cannot modify or partially accept it and she cannot extend the measure if the TRA does not recommend it. However, it is crucial that the Government have the correct tools available to allow them to tackle unfair trade, and the Secretary of State will be giving careful consideration to the trade remedies framework and the powers that it affords her.

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

What her Department’s trade priorities are for the upcoming G7 summit.

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[Joanna Cherry (Edinburgh South West) (SNP)]

What recent assessment she has made of the UK’s trading relationship with China.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Graham Stuart)]

China is an important trading partner for the UK, with bilateral trade worth £78.8 billion in 2020. In fact, China was our third largest overall trading partner and seventh largest export market last year, with UK exports to China amounting to £22.9 billion. The UK also remains a leading destination for Chinese outbound investment in Europe.

[Joanna Cherry [V]]

Coda Octopus, a company based in my constituency, has been encouraged by successive Tory Governments to expand its sales to China. Its world-leading Echoscope is used in underwater port construction and in renewable energy projects, and it does not have a military use. Yet despite a 23-year track record of exports, it is now losing millions of pounds in orders due to a change in attitude on export licences, and responses from the Minister’s Department are taking over 100 days. Will the Minister meet me so that I can sort this situation out for my constituents?

[Graham Stuart]

I thank the hon. and learned Lady for her reasonable question. It is a delight to have an SNP Member in the Chamber actually championing business and looking to open up markets. We have one of the most rigorous and thorough export licensing regimes in the world, and we are proud of it. Every application is looked at on a case-by-case basis against the consolidated criteria. However, I will ensure that a meeting is set up for her with the appropriate Minister to discuss this.

[Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD) [V]]

Happy birthday, Mr Speaker.

Two weeks ago, we heard that Jimmy Lai, the owner of the largest pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, had not only been sentenced for a second time but has now had his assets frozen. This step makes it incredibly hard to continue to fund his journalistic enterprises, which in turn has a chilling implication for a free press in Hong Kong. Colleagues across this House have called on the Government to implement Magnitsky sanctions, but there is concern that the UK’s sluggishness to implement sanctions is because the Government seek a future trade deal with China. Can the Minister clarify: is the prospect of a future deal causing this Government to treat China with leniency it does not deserve?

[Graham Stuart]

It is one of the abiding characteristics of the left in general that if they cannot find a scare story they invent one. This Government are clear: we are not seeking a free trade agreement with China. We have led the world in challenging China where we have found it necessary to do so. Working with international partners, we seek to maximise impact on any actions China takes that run counter to its international treaty obligations, including detentions without trial, detention of human rights defenders, and persecution of some religious and ethnic minorities. We work with allies on the most effective means to challenge it. On 30 June, at the 44th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UK read out a formal statement on behalf of 28 countries highlighting concerns about the human rights situation in Hong Kong and Xinjiang. I hope that the hon. Lady and other Opposition Members will never again suggest that we would do anything to put trade ahead of our responsibilities on human rights.

[Layla Moran (Oxford West and Abingdon) (LD)]

If she will make a statement on her departmental responsibilities.

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[Ian Levy (Blyth Valley) (Con)]

Happy birthday from Blyth Valley, Mr Speaker. I recently had the pleasure of visiting B&B Attachments, a fantastic firm in Cramlington that designs and constructs stock handling machinery for the front of forklift trucks. During my visit, it became evident that now more than ever, we need to showcase the ability of such firms on a global stage. Does the Secretary of State agree that she is doing all she can to support and promote the achievements of our homegrown manufacturing?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Graham Stuart)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his continued support for businesses in his constituency, and I agree with him that B&B Attachments is an example of UK manufacturing at its best. My Department was delighted to help B&B grow its business overseas by providing specialised advice and dedicated funding. The Department is doing all it can to help other manufacturing suppliers from across the regions and nations of the UK to achieve success overseas, including with grants from our £38 million international-isation fund.

[Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab) [V]]

Given that physical trade shows are taking place in the EU as early as July and given that so far there has not been any confirmation of what support will be provided to UK exporters, can the Minister provide clarity on when his Department will publish its trade show access programme for the financial year 2021-22? I am sure that the Minister knows that continued delays will be disastrous for UK exporters, as the UK is supposed to be showing the world that it is ready to export and keen to forge new commercial relationships with the rest of the world.

[Graham Stuart]

I thank the hon. Lady for her excellent question, because trade show support is really important for putting British business on the front foot. We have worked across multiple industries to improve our digital and virtual offer, and I am delighted to say that in some areas that has led to higher levels of activity than we had before. I will make sure that the House is informed as soon as we have further to say about the plan, possibly following 21 June.

[Anum Qaisar-Javed (Airdrie and Shotts) (SNP)]

Rouzan, a medic, and Yasin, aged nine—those are only two names of the many children and frontline medics who have been killed during systematic oppression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli Government. Export licences to sell arms to Israel worth £80 million—£80 million—have been granted by Ministers in the Department over the past three years. Lives have been lost, businesses have been attacked, homes are in rubble and families have been torn apart, yet the UK Government are still selling British-made weapons to Israel. Will the Minister please clarify whether it is UK Government policy to sell arms to those complicit in violations of international law?

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[Antony Higginbotham (Burnley) (Con)]

A very happy birthday to you, Mr Speaker. In Burnley and Padiham, we have world-class skills and products, and when we export those, it is phenomenally successful, but we know that businesses struggle with having the confidence and knowledge to export if they have never done it before. Could my hon. Friend set out what steps the Department for International Trade is taking to give businesses the support they need when exporting for the first time, so that we can push the “made in Burnley” message even further around the world?

[Graham Stuart]

I am pleased to say that my Department has recently created the new Export Academy, designed precisely to equip businesses with the capabilities and confidence to export successfully. My hon. Friend is such a champion of his local exporters, and it is so refreshing to have Government Members like him championing local business. I believe that he is holding an exporters fair shortly, and I congratulate him on that. He will be pleased to hear that 259 businesses from the north-west have joined the SME pilot Export Academy since it began, including 15 from the Burnley area. We have international trade advisers for the northern powerhouse, so additional resource has gone in there, and with his help, we will continue to champion northern businesses, and businesses from Burnley in particular, over the coming months and years.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab) [V]]

The International Trade Secretary described her new deal with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein as a “major boost” for our trade, but the Norwegian Government were more realistic. They said that the deal is “not as comprehensive” as our previous arrangements, that trade would be“more bureaucratic and less dynamic”and that without a veterinary agreement, there will be“a number of trade barriers”that we did not previously face. Does the Secretary of State recognise that more honest description of the deal, and will she take steps to reduce the barriers to trade that she has created for our exporters and importers?