Capital Requirements (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock Excerpts

Wednesday 19th December 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bates]

That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 15 November be approved. Considered in Grand Committee on 12 December

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I was unable to attend the Grand Committee because of business in the House. Will the Minister confirm whether this is another of the many hundreds of statutory instruments that this House has to consider to prepare for a no-deal exit from the European Union, which no one in their right mind wants and on which a large number of civil servants are spending time which they could use more profitably?

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Lord Bates) (Con)]

The noble Lord will find out there were 17.4 million people in their right minds who voted for this. The Government are following through that proposal.

Motion agreed.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, I was unable to attend the Grand Committee. Will the Minister confirm whether this is yet another of the many hundreds of statutory instruments which we are having to consider in this House in the event of a no-deal exit from the European Union, which 17.4 million people did not vote for—because there was never any suggestion of there being a no-deal exit when that referendum took place? I hope the Minister will correct his statement on the previous regulations. This is something which is taking up a lot of our time in Grand Committee, and a lot of civil servants’ time, which could be used in more profitable activities.

[Lord Trefgarne (Con)]

My Lords, I wonder if the noble Lord would like to refer to the reports of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which has considered all these measures. The answers to his questions are in those reports.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Lord Bates) (Con)]

We are in the process of preparing, which any responsible Government should do, for the no-deal situation, which is not what we want. We want the deal to go through, but we have to prepare for every eventuality. I commend the work of my noble friend’s committee in providing very detailed scrutiny of these regulations, as I also commend those Members who did actually attend Grand Committee on 12 December and provided that scrutiny in person.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

Could the Minister also commend the work done by the other committee, chaired by my noble friend Lord Cunningham?

[Lord Bates]

I would be very happy to commend it.