Draft Enterprise Act 2002 (EU Foreign Direct Investment) (Modifications) Regulations 2020

Mark Garnier Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2020 General Committees

[Paul Scully]

As I said, we already go far enough with the Enterprise Act. The information is released and on gov.uk. This is very much a tidying-up exercise to ensure that the legislation works.

[Mark Garnier (Wyre Forest) (Con)]

My apologies for pressing the point, but having been the Minister for Investment at the Department for International Trade, I know there are quite significant implications in the question from my right hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean and all of this.

Ministers from the Department for International Trade will be actively seeking foreign direct investment into UK businesses and, at the same time, the Competition and Markets Authority could start pushing back against those active Government interventions to bring people into the country, for various reasons. If Ministers could disclose some of the information at the start, that would pre-empt the problem otherwise of Departments working against each other, which would be to the benefit of the country. Should DIT officials try to start bringing in people who may be a bit dodgy, we could work out that they were dodgy before we started all the hard work. That is why that question is so important.

[The Chair]

Order. Before I ask the Minister to respond, may I gently bring hon. Members back to the fact that we are considering the instrument before us, not any future instruments?