Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill [Lords]

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Report stage
Tuesday 19th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sir Liam Fox]

My right hon. Friend is entirely right. As I observed at the time, President Clinton took the view that the treaty was the best hope that the west had of pulling China into a much more market-orientated, rules-based economy, where we could gain the benefits of a more liberal, global economy, but that is not how it turned out. We have had only one multilateral treaty since the WTO was created, the 2017 trade facilitation agreement.

There is a hierarchy of agreements that we can secure in terms of liberalisation. A multilateral agreement is the best, but given the effective veto that countries have, that is unlikely, and it is very unlikely to give us the benefits that we would like to see, especially the liberalisation of trade in services. The next best is a plurilateral agreement, the next best after that is a regional agreement, and then we are down to what some people would unkindly describe as the bargain basement of bilateral FTAs. All those are useful in creating a more liberal global trading environment. However, if China were to seek to join the CPTPP, it would need to commit itself to liberalisation in line with CPTPP requirements, which would require a reduced role for the Chinese state. If anyone who keeps an eye on current affairs thinks that the Chinese state is tending in the direction of a smaller influence, they are watching different news outlets from the ones that I am watching.

China could, of course, seek a bespoke agreement to join the CPTPP, but the UK has already set the precedent by joining on current terms. Even if China could join the CPTPP, could it be trusted to meet any of the conditions of accession? Although Chinese leaders have declared their willingness to meet the conditions, many countries are extremely sceptical, given China’s behaviour as a WTO member. China has a poor record when it comes to complying with WTO rules and observing the fundamental principles of non-discrimination, openness, reciprocity, fairness and transparency on which the WTO agreements are based. China’s subsidies over capacity, intellectual property theft and protectionist non-market policies exacerbate distortions in the global economy, and—even more worryingly—China’s use of trade as a tool of coercive diplomacy has raised concerns further, especially given its behaviour towards Australia and Japan. This is not the sort of partner we should be wishing to join us in the CPTPP, unless there are previously unimagined changes in behaviour.

Finally, a word, if I may, beyond this Chamber to our US colleagues: I believe that the decision to leave the CPTPP by the United States was a mistake. It removed from United States policymakers a tool in its strategic ability to shape events in the region. UK accession provides an opportunity for the United States to seek to join this new grouping and gain greater direct influence over China trade relations with the fastest growing economic zone in the world. These are all reasons why we must keep a very close eye on what happens with China and our new membership of the CPTPP. We have gained a great deal; we cannot afford to have it thrown away, by ourselves or by others.

[Mr Speaker]

We now come to a maiden speech; I call Damien Egan.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Tuesday 14th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I expect to allow questions on the statement to run for about an hour, but because there are so many of the same Members wishing to speak in the debate on the King’s Speech, I hope we can have short questions and speedy answers.

[Dr Liam Fox (North Somerset) (Con)]

As my right hon. Friend has said, following the unprovoked slaughter of its citizens, Israel has a right to pursue and destroy the terrorist forces. It is terrible that the ordinary citizens of Gaza are paying the price for this, as Hamas would have known, but even if Israel is able to degrade and destroy the Hamas forces, the Hamas mindset will remain—a Hamas mindset that is funded and supported by Iran. Iran does not want there to be peace between Arab states and Israel because the Iranian regime does not want Israel to exist. When will the Government take firmer measures? Members from across the House have asked when the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for example, will be proscribed and we have never been given a good reason why it is not. What is the answer?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Wednesday 15th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. I am absolutely amazed that some of you wanted to catch my eye. Obviously you do not now. Thanks for that—it is making my life easier. Do not be shocked when I do not call you to put that special question today.

Let us come to the man of the moment, Dr Liam Fox.

[Dr Liam Fox (North Somerset) (Con)]

Q6. As we look forward to 2022, one of the dates that stands out for me is 21 March, which will be World Down Syndrome Day. In thanking the Government, and indeed all parties in the House, for their support for the Down Syndrome Bill, may I ask the Prime Minister if he will give his personal commitment to ensuring that we get that Bill on to the statute book before World Down Syndrome Day, so that we can be the first country in the world to do so? We talk about global Britain, but that cannot just be about trade and diplomacy; it must also be about values. Would that not be a great place for Britain to start?

Points of Order

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Thursday 11th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Dr Liam Fox (North Somerset) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. As you know, the Prime Minister confirmed to me last week during Prime Minister’s questions that we have a unified civil service in the United Kingdom and that there are no separate civil services in the devolved Administrations. Logically, that means that Ministers are answerable to this House of Commons for issues relating to the conduct of the whole civil service. Will you please confirm that that is the case, and that, if any Member of this House consequently wants to table a question or ask for a report into the conduct of civil servants currently serving in any devolved Administration, which Ministers would answer such questions? Will you also confirm that any Committee of this House that seeks information from any civil servants in any part of the United Kingdom will be able to do so if that is needed for any parliamentary inquiry?

[Mr Speaker]

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for giving me notice of his point of order. The Table Office will be able to advise him about the tabling of questions. The Government decide which Department responds. The Table Office will be able to advise about the most appropriate Department to direct the questions towards in the first instance. The normal rules about questions, including on ministerial responsibility, would of course apply.

Select Committees may seek evidence from a wide range of sources and certain options are open to them if that evidence is not provided.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Wednesday 3rd March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I think I already know most of it.

[Dr Liam Fox (North Somerset) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend will be aware that when devolution was established in Scotland, there was no separate Scottish civil service created; we have a UK civil service, with UK ministerial oversight. Given the turmoil in Scottish politics, will he confirm that any civil servants who feel pressurised to behave inappropriately have a mechanism to seek redress beyond the Ministers to whom they are immediately answerable?

United States Tariffs: Steel and Aluminium

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Report stage: House of Commons
Monday 12th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. A load of constituencies are affected. May I suggest that we have short answers and short questions, so that hon. Members can get in?

[Dr Fox]

We will work with our partners in the European Union because we are under a duty of sincere co-operation and because it makes sense to do so, but many other countries that are not members of the European Union are affected, and they will also make their voices known.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Drew]

With regard to what the Secretary of State just said, will he do all he can to intercede with not just the US but the EU to make sure that agricultural products do not become part of a wider trade war? It is essential for the reasons he gave that less developed countries have continued access to all those markets.

[Dr Fox]

We can end on a note of perfect harmonisation, because there is no doubt that the more we can dismantle of the common external tariff that the EU currently has to the benefit of developing countries, the better. At last we have found a note of consensus.

[Mr Deputy Speaker]

The Financial Guidance and Claims Bill will not be taken today, so we will deal with the next statement, and the rest of business will be completed. After the next statement, we will take points of order.

European Union Referendum Bill

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Tuesday 9th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Hoyle)]

Order. I think the message has been received.

[Dr Fox]

Across the political spectrum in this country, many people believe we have been denied a genuine debate about the future of the country. Those people might come from different sides of the debate, but they have in common a profound belief in our democratic process and the right of the people to be heard rather than being involved in a cosy stitch-up by the political establishment of this country, which is what has happened over too many years. As well as needing profound change in the European Union and in Britain’s relationship with Europe —the question of sovereignty—we need to ensure that any of those changes are enshrined in treaty. As for the points that we cannot have that because it is impossible or that we are only demanding it because it makes the process more difficult, which have been made so far in the debate, let me say to the House that any changes or guarantees that are not entrenched in treaty will not be worth the paper they are written on. The European Court will continue to determine any elements according to the concept of and drive towards ever-closer union. That is why the process needs to be followed in that way.

We in this country are different from our European partners in many ways. That does not mean that we are in any sense better, but we are different. We have a very different concept of sovereignty that is deeply entrenched in our history. We have a different concept of what our democracy is and how it operates and we are one of the few countries, perhaps the only country, in the European Union that never felt the need to bury our 20th-century history in a pan-European project. We are different from so many different perspectives and the one thing with the European Union with which I have the greatest problem is those three words: “ever-closer union”. I do not believe in ever-closer union, because for me the logical endpoint of ever-closer union is union and I do not want to lose our status as a sovereign independent nation to be part of a union in which the union comes first and the nation states come second. That is why this is so fundamental.

Some of us still bear the scars of 1992. That is why we must not rush into the referendum. We must ensure that we have adequate debate and that people do not feel that they have been bounced, or the result will not be as binding as we would like it to be. Finally, the behaviour with which we conduct ourselves is crucial, and I say this especially to my own colleagues. We will have to work together after the referendum is over. How we conduct ourselves, the language we use and how we speak of and to one another will be fundamental to our ability to pull ourselves back as a united party after the referendum. We might do this passionately, but we should do it with tolerance and decency and how we treat one another will influence the judgment of the country on us all.

Scotland and the Union

Debate between Lindsay Hoyle and Liam Fox

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Dr Liam Fox (North Somerset) (Con)]

My hon. Friend makes an important key point about the United Kingdom and its identity. On the numerous visits that I made to Iraq and Afghanistan, our armed forces did not ask one another whether they came from Cardiff, Belfast, Edinburgh or London. They fought for a country and a people that they love, united not just by instruments of parliamentary procedure, but by a country, intermarried and interlinked through many generations. We are a people united not by parliamentary instrument or law, but by tradition and convention, and much more by our human activities.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

Order. A lot of Members wish to speak. We need shorter interventions. I remind Members that those who intervene who were on the speaking list will be dropped down if they continue to intervene.