Oral Answers to Questions

Karin Smyth Excerpts

Thursday 19th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for welcoming me to my new role. If the Labour party had supported us, no deal would have been far away and a deal would have been on the table.

[Karin Smyth (Bristol South) (Lab)]

19. What assessment he has made of the potential merits of negotiating an association agreement as part of the future partnership between the UK and the EU.

[The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Dominic Raab)]

As we set out in the White Paper, the future UK-EU relationship is likely to consist of several separate agreements covering different elements of economic, security and cross-cutting co-operation, and those arrangements could take the form of an association agreement.

[Karin Smyth]

I thank the Secretary of State for that answer. According to the European External Action Service, an association agreement must offer “a privileged relationship” between the European Union and its partner and must create enforcement bodies that are

“competent to take decisions that bind the contracting parties”.

Will the Secretary of State confirm that that is now the Government’s aim?

[Dominic Raab]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question. An association agreement is a flexible legal form. It is a term of art in general international law, but it does require binding treaty arrangements. In relation to recourse for dispute settlement, we have set out detailed proposals in the White Paper for arbitration, and that obviously has the advantage, whether it is a three or five-person arbitration panel, of being balanced. The UK and the EU will be able to appoint arbitrators to the panel, so disputes can be resolved with good faith, trust and confidence on both sides.