Leaving the EU: Consumer Protection
Debate between Luke Graham and Vicky Ford(7 years, 1 month ago)
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Luke Graham
I did say Conservative-led, but quite right—the coalition did a number of good things.
Vicky Ford
I just want to point out that it is this Government who have been leading work on digital consumer rights, so we need to give some credit to the Conservative leadership during the 2015 to 17 Parliament.
Luke Graham
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention; I always support giving praise where it is due.
I would like to end by highlighting the position of the Prime Minister and the Government. Only last week that was highlighted at the Conservative party conference, when the Prime Minister said that
“while we are in favour of free markets, we will always take action to fix them when they’re broken. We will always take on monopolies and vested interests when they are holding people back.”
Furthermore, in the Conservative manifesto a specific commitment was given to make sure that markets will
“work for consumers, as well as producers—with competition keeping prices low and encouraging new product development”,
while tackling issues such as
“poor information, complex pricing and exploitative behaviour”,
which prevent all markets from
“operating efficiently for the benefit of all.”
We realise that that is far from complete. To achieve that, we have set out a range of steps that we intend to take to further strengthen our consumer protection, in addition to the progress that has already been made and which I outlined earlier. I hope to work with Ministers and colleagues across the House to ensure that, as we debate the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, and then the substantive Bills that will follow on customs and trade, we prioritise strengthening the hands of regulators and online consumers, making terms and conditions clearer—an issue that is recognised by consumers and institutions across the United Kingdom—and strengthening the powers of consumer enforcement bodies to include fines against companies breaking consumer law, and delivering redress for wronged parties. The desire and intent to protect consumer rights is clear and we must ensure that we carry on in that manner as we go through and complete the process of leaving the EU.