EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Clark of Windermere Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clark of Windermere (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I wish to make my remarks in the context of climate change, which the Government are so committed to addressing. I will start on the European and international stage. When I chaired the Forestry Commission, I worked very hard with the then Government to get Europe to accept legislation so that illegally logged timber would not be allowed to enter the European Union in trade. I ask the Minister: what is the current position? Leading on from that, if it is still the case in Europe, what will the case be for Britain in any future deals outside Europe?

On the domestic front, trees are a critical part of our rural and urban ecosystems. We all know about the effects of Dutch elm disease and larch being felled. Currently, we have ash dieback too—80% of our ash trees are under threat—and there are many other diseases facing trees. Historically, the trading relationship in shrubs and trees within Europe and between Europe and the UK has been very close. Indeed, ash dieback was originally traced to the import of young ash trees from a European source. Put simply, we worked closely to tighten that up and make sure that it did not happen again. What is the current position of the relationship between Europe and the UK regarding tree trade?