Brexit: European Union’s No-deal Continuity Arrangements

Debate between Lord Purvis of Tweed and Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Thursday 13th June 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Lord is quite right that there are multiple mini-deals. They expire at different times and we will look to the EU to extend them. It is in the EU’s gift to decide whether to extend them, as it is in our gift to decide whether to reciprocate. Any elements of the arrangements surrounding our withdrawal will, I believe, impact on our ability to negotiate these agreements.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

Will the Minister confirm that these are not mini-deals but basic contingency measures, as the Commission itself has defined them? Some will require continuing legislative reciprocity from the UK, which we have not put on the statute book at the moment. They will cover a period of only six months and, as the Commission said, provide for only “basic connectivity” and,

“mitigate to some extent the impact of withdrawal, without however guaranteeing the continuation of all existing air transport services under the same terms as they are supplied today”.

Is it not an outrage that some candidates to be our Prime Minister will receive votes today from Conservative MPs while proposing to enforce this by suspending Parliament, if Parliament does not agree that some of these measures are not in the best interests of our haulage or aviation sectors?

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Lord can call these deals what he likes—he mentioned mini-deals—but I would call them the EU air connectivity regulation and EU regulation 2019/501, the basic road freight connectivity regulation. He said that they would mean that transport cannot continue as it does now but the key point, looking at the detail of the deal, is that it is substantially as it is now. However, he is quite right that were these regulations to fall away, which they do on varying dates for various forms of transport, it will be necessary to look hard at what we do thereafter.

Honda in Swindon

Debate between Lord Purvis of Tweed and Baroness Vere of Norbiton

Tuesday 19th February 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Vere of Norbiton]

The noble Lord mentioned the supply chain. Forgive me for not mentioning this earlier but one of the key strands of work for the task force will be to identify the supply chain. At the moment, we are not clear on exactly how many jobs are involved. I know that some companies are 100%-owned by Honda and there will inevitably be job losses there. For others, Honda represents one of their customers and we need to understand the impact on such companies and whether there are alternative sources of revenue and investment that they can make use of.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, the Department for International Trade’s state-of-play document states that it will not be possible for there to be a continuity agreement on trade with Japan before 29 March. That means that if we leave without an agreement, we will not even be operating on certified WTO rules. In response to Honda’s announcement today, the motor industry has asked the Government to categorically act now to rule out no deal to prevent the industry and others preparing for a catastrophic set of circumstances. Will the Government listen today to the motor industry and categorically rule out a no-deal Brexit so that the industry and others can focus on what is best for the industry and jobs in the country?