UK Trade Performance Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business and Trade
Lia Nici
Main Page: Lia Nici (Conservative - Great Grimsby)Department Debates - View all Lia Nici's debates with the Department for Business and Trade
(6 months, 3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Kemi Badenoch
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We should continue to prioritise trade with Morocco and countries like it. I remember that when we had a tomato shortage in western Europe, Morocco was one of the countries that had cheaper supplies, and we can drop tariffs on such products when shortages are affecting all of western Europe, not just the UK. So much flexibility comes of being able to have our own independent trade policy. I pay tribute to him for his work as trade envoy to Morocco, as I should have done to my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes (Martin Vickers) for his work as trade envoy to the western Balkans. There are so many trade envoys in the Chamber today, and I am grateful for all their work to support our Department and deliver the good news stories that we are talking about today.
Lia Nici (Great Grimsby) (Con)
I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, particularly with regards to growth in manufacturing and exporting. Great Grimsby has a huge amount of opportunity in carbon capture and storage, as well as in our UK seafood processing industry, which is the biggest such cluster in the country. Does she attribute some of the developing growth to UK freeports, one of which is in Grimsby? I look forward to welcoming her very soon.