EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Faulkner of Worcester Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Boycott (CB) [V]]

During the debate on the then European Union (Future Relationship) Bill, the Prime Minister stated:

“I have always said that Brexit is not an end but a beginning, and the responsibility now rests with all of us to make the best use of the powers that we have regained … We are going to begin by fulfilling our manifesto promise to maintain the highest standards of labour and environmental regulation.”—[Official Report, Commons, 30/12/20; col. 520.]


However, this thin deal is estimated by the IFS to leave our economy 2.1% smaller this year, which means less money available to tackle our environmental challenges.

I am very glad that the fight against climate change is classified as an essential element of the agreement. This means that any serious breach can lead to the suspension or termination of all or part of the agreement, which would materially defeat the object and purpose of the Paris Agreement. It is a very high threshold, but it is one that we must rise up to meet. 

However, new analysis by the Green Alliance found that our Government are yet to announce a policy to achieve the 75% of the emissions reductions that we still need to make to achieve our 2030 climate target. Additional policies required include commitments to restore up to 60% of peatlands, raise energy efficiency standards for new homes and mandate car manufacturers to increase production of electric vehicles. There are massive implications for spending, and some reckonings say that we need an extra £22 billion for this. I do not think we can afford not to do it.

Climate change is a world problem, and we are far more likely to tackle it and our nature crisis if we co-operate with our neighbours. As many noble Lords have said, we are still part of Europe. The EU has been a long-time partner, but this new agreement has, sadly, limited some of the mechanisms we have to promote our shared ambitions—so we desperately need to find further ways in which to negotiate and new ways in which to work together. We have the potential to be both dynamic and co-operative, and in the year that we host the COP, we, as leaders, should guarantee that we co-operate with all interested parties.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Faulkner of Worcester) (Lab)]

The noble Lord, Lord Desai, is not here, so I call the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe of Epsom.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB) [V]]

My Lords, since our marathon first debate on the UK’s Christmas Eve agreement with the EU last week, two things have happened: the agreement has entered into force and the UK has given effect to the provisions in domestic law. However inadequate one may believe it to be, as I do, it is water under the bridge, but there are plenty of loose ends remaining to tie up in the short term and some important policy choices to make in the medium to long term.

Two of the most important short-term challenges are financial services and data exchanges. On both, serious economic consequences will flow from whether the EU recognises the UK’s equivalence. Can the Minister assure the House that, in both cases, the Government will do everything they can to secure that equivalence? Do they recognise and accept that the more we seek to diverge from the EU—in practice, not just in theory—the less likely we are to achieve equivalence?

In the medium to long term, the big choice is surely whether we treat the present agreement as a ceiling, above which we do not seek to rise, or as a floor, on which other areas of co-operation, so far neglected, could be built. Which is it to be? Foremost among such areas, I suggest proper structures for co-operation on foreign and security policies, where we need to work with the EU institutions that take decisions in this field, as well as bilaterally with the member states, if we are not to drift towards irrelevance and lose influence. What is the Government’s thinking on this?

On student exchanges, the deplorable decision to turn our backs on Erasmus+ remains unexplained in any detail. Why, for example, do most other non-EU European countries find it of value? What can we do to restore reciprocal exchanges in this field, which Turing does not do? The fact is that we are at the beginning of a long and arduous journey of building our new partnership with our erstwhile EU partners, not strolling effortlessly through the sunlit uplands.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Faulkner of Worcester) (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Mann, has withdrawn from the debate, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Huyton.