Free Trade Agreement: New Zealand

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 21st October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

I will do my best to answer the right hon. Lady’s questions. We are really pleased. The deal is really balanced and brings lots of exciting opportunities for our businesses and our consumers. We will see customs duties on 100% of tariff lines for originating products removed. The UK will eliminate tariffs on 96.7% of tariff lines on the day the FTA comes into force, and New Zealand will eliminate 100% on the day the FTA comes into force.

On beef, the UK will remove duties after 10 years, and the quota volume will increase in equal annual instalments to ensure that the markets can stabilise and grow as required. To the right hon. Lady’s point about the increase in sheepmeat capacity, the interesting thing with New Zealand is that it already has a much larger World Trade Organisation quota that it does not use with the UK because, as we discussed earlier, it has the opportunity to sell many of its meat products into the Asian markets, where it gets high prices. We are therefore not expecting New Zealand to use these quotas in these early years, but we look to the opportunity for us to work for mutual benefit. For butter, full liberalisation will be over a five-year period, and it is similar for cheese.

This is a really exciting deal, and not only for the food and agriculture sector. There is a huge amount of opportunity for our businesses, looking at the digital space in particular and service provision. I reiterate—we will keep saying it until the Opposition are willing to be comfortable with it, if required—that we will never compromise standards for food coming into the UK. I had an interesting conversation with a farmer just last week, who was perhaps more forward-thinking than some Opposition Members. As we have different pests and different soil types, the sorts of products used in other countries may be different, but that does not mean that the quality, standard or welfare is lower. We will always be clear that we will not accept the lowering of standards. We appreciate that different countries have to manage their climatic and environmental situations in different ways, so that will continue to be the case.

I am pleased that the right hon. Lady has seen the written ministerial statement just put out by the Department on the TAC response and the launch of the new Trade and Agriculture Commission, which will be independent. It will have the opportunity to scrutinise all those free trade deals as they come forward, including, in the first instance, the New Zealand and Australia deals, once we have brought them to a full signed conclusion.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement, in particular her reference to encouraging small businesses and the opportunities that the deal provides for them. Will she ensure that her Department focuses on small and medium-sized businesses and encourages them to enter the export market? On a wider point, prior to our misguided decision to join the European Community, we had good trading relationships with New Zealand, Australia and the wider Commonwealth. Will she assure that House that she will do everything possible to extend deals with our Commonwealth friends?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

I thank my hon. Friend for his encouragement of the work that we are doing. In order to support and assist small and medium-sized enterprises, we want to champion their great products and services more widely than in the UK. Only a small proportion of businesses that could export, do so, and we are keen to ramp that up and give them support.

The export support service that was launched on 1 October supports businesses that are thinking about or are already exporting to the EU. We look to grow that as the service embeds. We also have the Open Doors campaign, which is an opportunity to help champion some of the fantastic UK goods and services that exist. We will continue to grow that too.

I charge all Members to come and talk to us about businesses in their constituencies and issues that they want us to champion as we go around the world and have the opportunity. In Commonwealth countries, there is much potential for mutual bilateral trade, so Members should help us to make sure that we are opening those doors for them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 15th July 2021 Commons Chamber

[Paul Bristow (Peterborough) (Con)]

What recent progress she has made on negotiations to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

What recent progress she has made on negotiations to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

[The Minister for Trade Policy (Greg Hands)]

Her Majesty’s Government formally began negotiations on the UK’s accession to CPTPP on 22 June. Negotiating teams will be working hard over the coming months to ensure a good deal for businesses, producers and consumers across the UK. The UK’s accession would make CPTPP a truly global free trading area and strengthen the UK’s relationship with 11 dynamic economies across four continents.

[Greg Hands]

Taiwan is a subject close to my heart, and we know that it is an important and growing trading partner for the UK. It is a highly valued member of the WTO as well. Future membership of CPTPP is a matter for the members at that time, but I note that Taiwan is looking to align itself to CPTPP’s high standards and is continuing its long-standing commitment to rules-based trade and the global trading system. We expect CPTPP to grow in size, and future members will be a matter for future consideration. I am looking forward to our next round of Joint Economic and Trade Committee talks with Taiwan, hopefully as soon as travel becomes possible again.

[Martin Vickers [V]]

I very much support the Government’s efforts to become a member of CPTPP, which, as the Minister mentioned, offers great prospects. Indeed, my constituency is a major centre for renewable energy and has links with, for example, Taiwan. Does he anticipate that the renewable energy sector will gain great advantage from CPTPP membership and boost those industries in my constituency?

[Greg Hands]

Yes. CPTPP will of course liberalise trade in goods and services in the fast-growing markets in the Pacific, and fast-growing markets have fast-growing needs for clean energy. In recent times, I have been in Vietnam, Korea and Taiwan, pushing UK expertise and exports, for example, in the offshore wind sector. I remind the House that the UK has the world’s largest offshore wind capacity. I am sure there will be opportunities for that and other renewable sectors in Yorkshire and the Humber, including in Cleethorpes.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 15th April 2021 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I am very happy to help the cheese company export not just to the EU, but around the world.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con) [V]]

Since the announcement that Immingham and the Humber ports have been designated as a freeport and that their application scored high in every category, businesses from around my constituency have been contacting me to welcome the announcement. They see it as part of the Government’s global Britain policies. What plans does the Department have to ensure that they can benefit from the freeport and explore new markets?

[Graham Stuart]

Like my hon. Friend, I am celebrating the freeport, which will make a positive difference and from which businesses will be able to export all around the world. Our export academy, the new export strategy and other elements are all there to help them to make the most of it, as well as, of course, probably the most ambitious trade policy ever conducted by a major economy in history, which we are successfully prosecuting. If I may, Mr Speaker, I would also like to thank my hon. Friend for briefing me ahead of my visit to Serbia last week, prosecuting the case for British businesses, in his role as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to the western Balkans.

Global Britain

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 11th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con) [V]]

I welcome today’s debate. I am hugely optimistic about our future as a sovereign free-trading nation, although I appreciate that not all share that view—indeed, we have witnessed this evening how Labour and SNP Members wish to talk down Britain. Unlike them, I am confident about our place in the world. For evidence of this, we need look no further than the remarkable achievement of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade and her team, who have successfully negotiated over 60 continuity agreements since we formally left the EU almost a year ago.

The Government have set out their welcome ambition to join the CPTPP. Perhaps we should also consider in greater detail CANZUK, which could bring Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK together as an international powerhouse. Far from being the little Englanders the remainers have always made Brexiteers out to be, we are pursuing a vision of a truly global Britain. I am pleased to play my small part in this through my role as the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to the western Balkans. Although I have been in office for only three months, I have seen the huge potential for expanding the relationship between the UK and each of the six countries in the region. There are considerable opportunities across a range of sectors, most notably in renewables and infrastructure projects. Furthermore, there are opportunities throughout the supply chains, offering infinite possibilities for SMEs in the UK to get involved.

The forthcoming COP26 world conference will focus attention on the green agenda and create a massive opportunity for the UK to showcase what our industries offer in the global markets that are open to them. In contrast to what the doomsayers claim, post Brexit we retain the status of a respected partner, which is able to continue to punch above its weigh thanks to a dynamic economy. We are one of the greatest military powers in the world and have a reputation as one of the most effective exercisers of soft power. Few can match our diplomatic footprint, as I have seen in my role as a trade envoy. Our ambassadors in the western Balkans have shown themselves to be people of great ability. They recognise that the UK brand is a powerful one and maintain Britain’s reputation as a country that offers fantastic opportunities.

I was delighted to hear the Secretary of State refer to free ports. She knows that I have long advocated such a policy. I am of course eager to ensure that the Humber ports receive free port status. It is clear that the UK’s best times are ahead of us, and I very much welcome the efforts of the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for International Trade to refocus our policy so that it is fit for the 21st century.

UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Wednesday 25th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

After the rather negative contributions from the Opposition, I hope to make a more positive case. I congratulate the Secretary of State and the ministerial and negotiating teams on achieving the deal, and it is nice to know that, as a post-Brexit free sovereign nation, we can manage to conclude such a worthwhile deal.

As a member of the International Trade Committee, I have had the opportunity to scrutinise the agreement in detail and can assure the House that it is a significant improvement on what we previously had via the EU. I can also assure hon. Members that food standards, animal welfare and so on will not be compromised.

As we move forward, the Opposition might be accused of moving the goalposts in their assessment of the deal. Prior to the announcement of the historic agreement, critics of the UK negotiating team claimed that we were not able to secure a deal as good as the EU’s. Now that we have a deal, the same people complain that it is only on a par with the EU’s. I can assure the House that they were wrong to be pessimistic in the first instance, and they are wrong about the result in the second. It is certainly true that we have replicated key elements of the EU-Japan deal, and that provides much-needed continuity and certainty to UK businesses involved in trade. However, this is a deal tailored to the UK economy, which secures additional benefits beyond what the EU was able to secure.

The most notable differences can be seen in the provisions on digital, data and financial services. Those are areas in which the UK already has a very strong comparative advantage, so the deal represents a significant boost to British business. The City of London Corporation labelled those provisions “a major achievement”. In some areas, we have agreed to implement the same measures as the EU but on a faster time scale, such as the 21 industrial tariff lines that will be eliminated under the CEPA immediately, in January. Another example is the immediate withdrawal of UK duties on two tariff lines relating to electronic control panels for electric vehicles, which will not be eliminated until 2024 under the EU agreement.

The UK is a trading nation; 64% of our GDP comes from imports and exports. I understand that the Department for International Trade has identified around £88 million-worth of trade with Japan that could gain from lower tariffs, owing to more liberal rules of origin. Those new rules, which again go beyond what the EU has in place, will be a big bonus to the many British businesses that import products in order to add value to them in some way.

In respect of visas, the International Trade Committee concluded that the CEPA represents an improvement on the JEPA in a number of respects. Financial services represents one of the areas in which we have made significant strides beyond the Japan-EU agreement. UK suppliers will now be able to offer new financial services on the same basis as Japanese suppliers in all modes of supply, whereas the JEPA only allows for one mode. That is an improvement. A further example relates to the joint UK-Japan Financial Regulatory Forum. That is an improvement on the EU deal, which only gave the UK indirect representation. From next January the UK will be its own representative, on an equal footing with our partners. The House can be reassured that those improvements have been widely welcomed by industry.

On digital trade and data, the UK has negotiated more ambitious provisions. Industry can be assured that the agreement also goes well beyond the EU deal in respect of intellectual property, where provisions are in place to protect trademarks and copyright. We have also got a better deal for geographical indicators. Japan has 55 products that it wants to get on to the UK register, and we have 70 products—including, of course, traditional Grimsby smoked haddock, vital to my constituency and its neighbours.

The UK-Japan agreement creates a working group for co-operation in the field of agriculture. That contrasts with the EU by producing a system involving fewer administrative burdens and allowing greater flexibility while maintaining appropriate decision making. Reference was made earlier to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. As the Prime Minister’s trade envoy to the western Balkans, I can assure Members that negotiations are continuing and I am pretty confident of success. Free trade is the foundation of this country’s prosperity and I can assure the House that we want more free trade. This agreement provides the opportunities.

Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Tuesday 17th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

I know, from previous meetings that the hon. Lady and I have had, her passion and commitment to the UK’s trade with Africa. On Ghana, I look at the situation closely, as does the Under-Secretary of State for International Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Hampshire (Mr Jayawardena). We are clear that there is a deal on the table. It replicates the EU stepping stone agreement. There is no evidence to suggest that the EU stepping stone agreement in any way discriminates in respect of Ghana’s trade with the rest of its ECOWAS partners. We have also to be clear that the UK will follow World Trade Organisation rules on discrimination between economies of similar levels of development when it comes to trade agreements. That is very important, for example, for the generalised system of preferences. The best thing for us to do is for the UK and Ghana to sign that deal that is on the table.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

It is clear from the meeting that I held with the Minister’s colleague, the Under-Secretary of State for International Trade, my hon. Friend the Member for North East Hampshire, last week that any accusation of foot dragging in dealing with these continuity agreements is clearly not correct. I am working with businesses in my constituency to take advantage of the widening trade opportunities. Does this Minister agree that Members from across the House should be working with businesses to ensure that we maximise the benefits of the trade policies being pursued?

[Greg Hands]

My hon. Friend is right; we can have an esoteric discussion about trade policy, tariffs, quotas, automated tariff quotes and all this kind of stuff, but it must work for our consumers and our businesses. The whole point of doing trade policy is to make sure it boosts UK exports and inward investment in this country, and does good work for UK trade, consumers and businesses in constituencies such as his.

Japan Free Trade Agreement

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on achieving this agreement. Free trade, of course, is the key to prosperity for all our constituencies, and it is particularly important and valuable for mine, with the largest port in the country at Immingham. I particularly welcome the mention of the trans-Pacific agreement. Will she outline how she will continue with that agreement and move forward with agreements with countries such as Australia?

[Elizabeth Truss]

We are the first potential accession country that has had a meeting with all 11 chief negotiators. We will now go into separate discussions with those countries to prepare our accession plans. I hope to be able to formally apply early next year so that we can make progress and accede to this high-standards agreement, which will give British exporters access to the fast-growing Pacific market.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

All investments by the prosperity fund are examined against the raft of UK Government policies, objectives and aims, and we do that in all cases in each continent of the world.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

As the Minister is aware, the Grimsby and Cleethorpes constituencies are major centres for the renewables sector. Many of the smaller businesses are vital parts of the supply chain, and they would like to get more involved in exports. Will the Minister agree to meet me and a delegation from the local industry to explore the possibilities?

[Graham Stuart]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. He will be aware that the offshore wind sector deal, published in March 2019, sets an ambition of increasing exports fivefold to £2.6 billion by 2030. He and I, in our respective constituencies, have seen the transformation of the economics of offshore wind. We are now seeing UK Export Finance, for instance, financing major investments in Taiwan and other parts of the world, with UK exports and UK expertise, not least from my hon. Friend’s constituency, at the heart of that. I would be delighted to meet him.

UK-US Trade Deal

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Monday 2nd March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

My friend is absolutely right. We have seen the growth of sparkling wine exports, which now, I think, total more than £100 million a year. I see huge opportunities in removing those tariffs and getting more of our excellent sparkling wine into the United States.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

North-east Lincolnshire is a major centre for the renewable energy sector, and a number of US delegations have already visited to look at opportunities. Would the Secretary of State give an assurance that her Department will support the small and medium-sized companies that want to get into the supply chain in this sector?

[Elizabeth Truss]

One of our key asks from the US trade deal is a dedicated chapter to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises by removing some of the customs red tape, being able to do more things online, and being able to get better information. I will certainly look at my hon. Friend’s specific businesses in Cleethorpes in that regard.

Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Vickers Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

No doubt the hon. Lady will be supporting a deal to ensure that the good people of York have the trading opportunities that they deserve.

[Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)]

Returning to the issue of freeports, the Secretary of State visited Immingham in my constituency last year and saw for herself the great opportunities that exist to improve the local economy. Will she continue working with me to ensure that the Humber ports do indeed receive freeport status?

[Graham Stuart]

As I represent a constituency in the Humber area, I will continue, without giving any special status, to ensure that we liaise with my hon. Friend, but he is so right. Conservative Members are focused on trying to find policies that open up investment and bring in further jobs, but the Labour party’s manifesto sets out policies that would destroy inward investment and cost tens of thousands of jobs.