Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Levy Excerpts

Thursday 3rd November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

My hon. Friend has been tireless in his advocacy for his Sedgefield farmers, including Billy Maughan and others. We are helping our farmers and food producers to capitalise on the enormous global demand for top-quality British food and drink. We have staff in more than 100 markets around the world, including in the middle east, Asia and the United States, to ensure maximum access for our brilliant produce. That includes two specialist agricultural attachés in the Gulf region and China and three more attachés to cover the Asia-Pacific and India. Next week, I will be visiting Taiwan, which welcomed UK pork exports for the first time in 2018, following my trade talks with Taiwan in 2016.

[Ian Levy (Blyth Valley) (Con)]

17. What steps her Department is taking to reduce barriers to global trade for British businesses.

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

The Department is working tirelessly to remove the trade barriers that British businesses face across the world. In the last financial year alone, we have removed 192 barriers across 79 countries. The removal of just 45 of those barriers is estimated to be worth £5 billion to businesses over five years, but we want to do more. Targeting the 100 trade barriers on our most wanted list has the potential to deliver export opportunities worth £20 billion for businesses across the UK.

[Ian Levy]

I welcome the team to the Front Bench.

On Monday, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State visited the port of Blyth to see for herself the offshore blade testing facility at the Catapult. As the only deep-water port in Northumberland, the port of Blyth is at the heart of international trade, but if we are to continue to trade competitively on a global scale, we must look at the bureaucracy surrounding export licences. Will the Minister meet me to look at how we can smooth the way to a more efficient trading platform and drive exports around the world?

[Nigel Huddleston]

My hon. Friend and I have talked about this before. I know that the Secretary of State very much enjoyed her visit earlier this week. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the great expertise in renewable energy and green technology sectors in the UK. We need to do more to export those fantastic skills. The Government take our export control responsibilities incredibly seriously, because there are some sensitive areas, but I am extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face and of the need to process export licences as swiftly and reasonably as possible. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to understand in more detail the specific issues that he is facing.