Product Regulation and Metrology Bill [HL]

Debate between Lord Russell of Liverpool and Baroness Newlove

Wednesday 20th November 2024 Grand Committee

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Newlove) (Con)]

My Lords, I must inform the Committee that, if Amendment 4 is agreed to, I cannot call Amendment 6 by reason of pre-emption.

[Lord Russell of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 17 and 127 in my name. I also would like to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, on moving from the calm waters of the Home Office to the much more exciting waters of his new role. I hope he will enjoy the turbulence that will be created, not least perhaps by this group of amendments.

I have tabled this quite deliberately with a cross-party group representing the three principal parties across the House. This is designed, frankly, to try to drain the politics and emotion from this particular issue. The Government have made it quite clear that their primary driver for this Bill is to encourage economic growth and, above all, sustained investment. Having spent 31 years serving all kinds of businesses, including some of the largest companies in the world, as a headhunter, I know that one thing companies hate above all is uncertainty. For the last few years, many of our businesses have lived in a state of more or less continuous uncertainty, which they are not very happy about. That partly reflects our economy not moving as fast as it should and levels of investment which are at the bottom of the league table against our primary competitors.

The recent attempts, since midnight on 31 January 2020, to try to create our own system of regulation have been repeatedly underwhelming. I suspect they have been extremely expensive. I do not know whether the Minister will ever be able to find out quite how much the UKCA exercise has cost. I suspect if he managed to get the noble Lord, Lord Callanan, into a bar and plied him with enough drink—possibly Scotch whisky—he might find out. I suspect it was a considerable and rather embarrassing sum.

That has created a state of uncertainty. This Bill gives us a change to try to calm the situation down. Above all, what I want to do, and what I persuade and implore all noble Lords to do, is to drain the emotional and ideological swamp around some of these issues, and to get away from arguments which, frankly, most businesses have very little time or respect for—however important they may seem to the people for whom it is important—about sovereignty and rule-taking, and all those things. Most businesses are as interested in those issues as the general public is in your Lordships’ House and what goes on here. Most of them have no idea at all and have very little interest. Frankly, that is the same attitude that most businesses have to some of the wrangling that has gone on around these issues. Above all, they want certainty.

To start, I quote the head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, Mr William Bain, on the Bill:

“We would encourage the Government to bring forward an indication of the policy it intends to follow under the bill in terms of whether it would be the default that there would be alignment with relevant EU measures in scope of this or whether they will look at it on a case-by-case basis. But the BCC in its report and surveys and evidence has the data from our members to say that they think for traded goods, having as much alignment as possible is beneficial for trade with the EU”.


Other bodies, such as the Engineering and Machinery Alliance, said the same. CHEM Trust said the same on chemicals and REACH. I think I can rely on the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, to weigh in on the environment, and we have already touched on some sensitivities about trade with Northern Ireland and trying not to upset the Windsor agreement and the DUP any more—it seems to be in a state of habitual disarray and alarm, which I do not want to exaggerate.

Secondly, the Government themselves, in their Explanatory Notes on the Bill, say that it is

“ensuring that the law can be updated to allow a means of recognising new or updated EU product requirements”

including CE marking, where appropriate,

“with the intention of preventing additional costs for businesses and provide regulatory stability”.

At this point, I return to the theme of Scotch whisky. I thought it was interesting to find a paper from the Scotch Whisky Association, with which certain noble Lords may be familiar. It says that business certainty and consistency by transposing EU market legislation of relevance to Scotch whisky in the UK is of extreme importance and that:

“A pragmatic, non-disruptive transition will be fundamental”.


We are looking for a Bill that gives the degree of certainty that business is craving and looking for. The result of the recent election in the United States of America is a cause of some alarm for some businesses, with perhaps increased uncertainty. I would not be surprised if the President-elect does not again hold out the prospect of a glittering trade deal between us and the United States. I suspect it might never be forthcoming or, if it is, the price we would pay would certainly benefit America first and us last.

The amendments that we are putting forward are in no way, shape or form driven by ideology; they are driven by business pragmatism. I also point out that the Government recently published an industrial strategy Green Paper, from which I quote:

“This government believes it is our role to provide the certainty that inspires confidence, allowing businesses to plan not just for the next year, but for the next 10 years and beyond”.


In essence, this is what we are trying to encourage the Government to articulate during the passage of this Bill, in such a way that business will not have to read between the lines to understand what the Government understand, as it is straight up there—either in the Bill or in comments made at the Dispatch Box that make the Government’s hopes and intentions very clear.

I gently remind some of those who might perhaps take issue with these amendments that it was the new leader of the Conservative Party, in her previous role as a Cabinet Minister, who effectively blew the whistle more than once on some of the attempts by her party to put in place a variety of measures to try to replace some issues that affect trade and regulation with the UK. She found disfavour with some members of her own party for doing so, but I would be interested to know whether the noble Lords who find fault with these amendments have spoken to the new leader of their party to see what her view of this is.

I will finish by firing some questions at the Minister. They are mainly aimed at the Bill team, because I do not expect an immediate answer, but I would be grateful if the noble Lord could come back to us in writing.

First, what calculations have been made by the Government of the impact of divergence in product standards from the EU going forward on our exports and our imports?

Secondly, what engagement have the Government had with industry on the impact of aligning with the EU on product regulation? I know from a meeting that the noble Lord, Lord Kirkhope, and I had, thanks to the Minister, with him and the Bill team that there has been considerable engagement throughout the past year with all kinds of areas of business. It would be helpful to know how extensive that was and what level of detail it was able to go into.