EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Lord Horam Excerpts

Friday 8th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Horam (Con)]

My Lords, like most of us, I imagine, I was relieved when, in the end, there was a deal. But I am afraid that it is not a good deal for the UK. The European Union gets all that it wants on trade and we get nothing on services, which we all now know, relentlessly, are 80% of our economy. That could be serious for our financial services industry. At the moment, we are the financial centre for the European Union. Will the European Union tolerate having its main financial centre outside its ambit? I doubt it. It smells good business and, as a regulatory body, can put the squeeze on us, as was pointed out by the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Stamford. Billions of pounds of trade have already gone and thousands more jobs will follow.

My other concern is inward investment from overseas, where we have consistently outstripped Germany and France in the past. Will that maintain its present level if we are no longer an easy entrance to the European single market? It seems unlikely.

I am afraid that in business we are like a card player who has voluntarily discarded two top cards but still has to play the game, so we have to reinvent ourselves on the economy. As the noble Lord, Lord Bridges of Headley, said, we have to think through our new role. It can be done. We have a great deal going for us, as the noble Lord, Lord Butler of Brockwell, pointed out—I entirely agree with him. There are opportunities, and difficulties always cause opportunities, but let us not underestimate the size of the task that we have set ourselves.