Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 2nd December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mike Freer]

The President of the Board of Trade, the Secretary of State for International Trade, my right hon. Friend the Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Anne-Marie Trevelyan) took the Board of Trade to a meeting in Ireland. I am sure that that issue was discussed. If the hon. Gentleman would like to know more details of what we are doing to support mutual trade, I am more than happy to have a discussion with him.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

When negotiating free trade agreements, the Government must promote and protect the interests of industries across the UK. What steps are the Government taking to protect the interests of Scottish agriculture in future negotiations?

[Mike Freer]

The Department for International Trade is always looking to protect our own industries and sectors, including the agricultural sector, while ensuring that they are able to exploit new markets. In terms of beef and lamb, our teams are working hard to ensure that the new markets we are opening up will be available to Scottish farmers. Again, if the hon. Lady would like to know more about the support we are able to offer, I am very happy to facilitate that discussion.

--- Later in debate ---

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

COP26 was an important step towards meeting our international climate commitments, but that must be carried through into all aspects of Government policy. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the environmental impact of trade, through both imports and exports, is mitigated as far as possible?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

UK leadership through COP26 has been world respected and renowned. The Department for International Trade is now able to continue the extraordinary leadership shown by my right hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma) as COP26 President to ensure that the technologies that the UK is developing, has developed and will continue to develop will be at the forefront of all matters environmental in order to help every part of the world meet its decarbonisation challenge.

Free Trade Agreement: New Zealand

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 21st October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

My hon. Friend raises a really important point. We have submitted our application to become a member of the CPTPP, which is a group of 11 countries that work together with a free trade agreement. We are the first new member to apply, and we are presently going through what I can only describe as an exam process as our legislative requirements are tested against its framework. It is incredibly important. New Zealand and Australia are two key partners within the CPTPP, and in having these two first free trade agreements with them, we are setting out very clearly what is important to us. As I say, with this New Zealand agreement today, we are setting out all the areas that are really critical to us and indeed to our businesses. It shows the importance that we will continue to give to what free and fair trade means. It is ensuring that our businesses are working in a fair and competitive environment so that they can sell their fantastic produce. I have the fantastic challenge and joy of being able to share that across the world. I am making sure that, as we look to that CPTPP market, through these first two trade deals we are setting out our important and, indeed, great offer.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

Taking a piecemeal approach to trade agreements is having an impact in many sectors, but especially for farmers. What assessment have the Government made of the cumulative effect of all these free trade agreements on sectors such as farming?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

The cumulative effect of more and more free trade deals is the opportunity for our fantastic businesses that provide goods and services to reach many more markets. The huge growth in population, and wealthier communities across Asia in particular, are markets that we want our businesses to have every opportunity to access, because we believe that our products are some of the best in the world.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 21st October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

My hon. Friend, who has done a great deal of work in this policy space, is absolutely right. It is important that we make sure not only that we use the power of trade to build relationships, as I said, but to give our businesses that want to work globally through supply chains the best tools and protections that they might need to ensure that they have authority with countries where the improvement of the position of the supply-chain workforce and, indeed, the protection of other human rights is critical.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

With the Government’s own data showing that the vast majority of the UK public would not support a trade deal with Saudi Arabia, will the Government confirm that they will not be seeking trade agreements with countries with poor human rights records?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

As I have said, we have been clear that trade never comes at the expense of human rights, but we will always make use of the many relationships we have, including a very strong and long-standing relationship with Saudi Arabia, to work with partners not only to get mutual trading benefit but to help to make improvements on the issues that we consider to be important.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 24th June 2021 Commons Chamber

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

UK membership of the CPTPP would be a significant achievement for post-Brexit trade and open up a major export market for exporters in Scotland and across the UK, presuming that it does not lead to a decline in the high standards for goods and services that we currently possess and does not undercut our industries with lower-quality goods. In 2019, UK exports of goods and services to the signatory nations of the agreement amounted to £58 billion, or 8.4% of all UK exports. In the light of the ongoing Brexit-related trade disruption, engagement with this market is especially crucial in opening up new markets and diversifying our trade.

However, it is essential not to forget some of the possible costs of entry into the agreement and to ensure that as we sign these important trade deals we do not compromise our high standards of food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection. The farming industry has been keen to emphasise that unshackled trade with countries that have lower standards on agricultural produce poses a real threat to the industry unless rules on standards are clearly enforced on imports. In February, Mark Williams, chief exec of the British Egg Industry Council, emphasised that a significant percentage of the cost of egg production in the UK comes from the high food standards expected of domestic producers via existing legislation. Without these standards being enforced on imports from countries that the UK has free trade agreements with, we could see our farmers substantially undercut by low-standard produce. Mexico, one of the signatories, is one of the world’s most significant egg producers, with some 160 million egg-layer birds kept mostly in cages, with no significant national hen welfare legislation.

Another matter the Government must consider carefully is the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism. In accordance with chapter 9, section B of the agreement, the UK Government would be required to accept an ISDS arbitration mechanism. Although some signatories of the agreement have won derogations from this rule via bilateral side instruments, the UK, according to many trade experts, including the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex, is unlikely to be able to secure for itself such a derogation as existing members are keen to ensure compliance with existing CPTPP rules.

Due to the catastrophe of Brexit, our exporters are being denied the unfettered access to the EU’s single market that they long enjoyed. For the Scottish and UK economy to prosper, we must continue to act to secure new markets for their trade, as I know the Secretary of State has been doing. However, the Government must take on board these serious concerns about our regulatory autonomy and food standards when seeking to gain access to these markets. Our industry and environment alike depend on it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 15th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Kinnock (Aberavon) (Lab)]

What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure a level trading field for UK steel producers while the EU and US maintain import controls on steel goods.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind)]

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure a level trading field for UK steel producers while the EU and US maintain import controls on steel goods.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Mr Ranil Jayawardena)]

The Government back the British steel industry, as we have heard already this morning, and the unjustified US tariffs on steel, aluminium and derivatives imports from Britain are completely unfair and wholly unnecessary. Our rebalancing measures in response to the US section 232 on additional tariffs show that we will defend the British national interest and the rules-based system.

[Mr Jayawardena]

As the hon. Member knows, the British steel industry has benefited from investment of more than £500 million in recent years to help with the costs of energy, and we have announced a £250 million fund to support the decarbonisation of the industry. So this Government are dedicated to supporting the future of the steel industry and we will continue that work.

[Margaret Ferrier [V]]

Removing these measures would lead to the UK being one of the only steel markets without any protective measures for its steel industries. Does the Minister not agree that, while global overcapacity stands at over 500 million tonnes, it would be unwise to become a rare exposed market for steel when larger markets are still protected?

Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Tuesday 17th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I can, and can I just say what a brilliant voice for Burnley my hon. Friend has been in this House over the last 11 months? I can confirm that we are working very hard indeed on the remaining continuity agreements, but let us also recognise how far we have come in the agreements that we have already got.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Ind) [V]]

Scrambling at the last minute has been a feature throughout the Brexit process, and the UK Government’s approach to trade agreements is no exception. The Minister’s predecessor used to say that the EU trade deal would be the “easiest in human history”, yet that is now a race against time too. Will the Minister launch a full review of the timeline and negotiating strategy for future trade arrangements, so that they are not blighted by the serial incompetence that we have seen over the last four years?

[Greg Hands]

I think the hon. Lady asked about scrambling at the last minute, but we have done deals with 52 countries that account for £142 billion of bilateral trade. That is a huge amount: 74% of the value of those non-EU countries’ trade before the start of this process. We look forward to further continuity agreements in the coming weeks.

Oral Answers to Questions

Margaret Ferrier Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My hon. Friend is right: we cannot allow dumping practices to go undealt with, and the trade remedies authority will be there to take a tough line in areas such as ceramics. Because we are leaving the European Union, we have the opportunity to have a policy that reflects the needs of the UK and the priorities of UK consumers and UK manufacturers. I am determined to have that, but we must also seek to lower the tariffs on exports for our producers, because we want to see British ceramics, particularly from Stoke-on-Trent, on tables around the world.

[Margaret Ferrier (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (SNP)]

5. What assessment her Department has made of the effect of the end of freedom of movement in the UK on bilateral trade with the EU in goods and services.

[Stephen Flynn (Aberdeen South) (SNP)]

12. What assessment her Department has made of the effect of the end of freedom of movement in the UK on bilateral trade with the EU in goods and services.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Trade (Conor Burns)]

Leaving the European Union frees the United Kingdom to introduce a fairer immigration system. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said at the UK-Africa investment summit this week that

“our system is becoming fairer and more equal as between all our global friends and partners. Treating people the same regardless, wherever they come from and by putting people before passports, we will be able to attract the best talent from around the world, wherever they may be.”

We will also be able to reach out and strike new global trade agreements to the benefit of all our constituents and UK consumers.

[Margaret Ferrier]

I thank the Minister for that answer. The President of the EU Commission said:

“Without the free movement of people,”

the UK cannot expect to

“have the free movement of capital, goods and services”.

Is it not true that taking control of our borders comes with not only an unacceptable human cost, but a very serious economic one?

[Conor Burns]

I am sorry, but not surprised, that the SNP cannot see that there is talent beyond the shores of the European Union. Freedom of movement was discussed at length during the referendum. We on the Government Benches believe in respecting the results of referendums, including the one in Scotland.