Debates between Martin Vickers and Bill Esterson during the 2017-2019 Parliament

Thu 25th Jan 2018
Trade Bill (Third sitting)
Public Bill Committees

Committee Debate: 3rd sitting: House of Commons

Trade Bill (Third sitting)

Debate between Martin Vickers and Bill Esterson
Committee Debate: 3rd sitting: House of Commons
Thursday 25th January 2018

(6 years, 11 months ago)

Public Bill Committees
Read Full debate Trade Bill 2017-19 View all Trade Bill 2017-19 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Public Bill Committee Amendments as at 25 January 2018 - (25 Jan 2018)
Martin Vickers Portrait Martin Vickers
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Q But if changes were required, surely you would want to be a part of that? It is perfectly possible that we could construct a better system.

David Scott: I appreciate that, but I do not believe that we can. I think the current system works in the best interests of the UK. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is regarded as a powerhouse within the regulatory sphere. If we tried to set up a secondary or different regulatory system, it would not be to the benefit of the UK in terms of how we operate in the global marketplace for some pharma services.

Bill Esterson Portrait Bill Esterson
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Q Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp, can I come back very briefly to the question that you were answering from Barry Gardiner? You said that devolution was incompatible with the production of rapid trade deals. Does that also apply to what this Bill is attempting to do by creating corresponding agreements to the current EU free trade agreements?

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp: Yes, and I think there is a great deal of confusion around it. I do not believe that there is sufficient clarity in the Bill about what is defined as a free trade agreement, for instance. If you do a deal with a nation that has multiple elements including an element of free trade, does that mean that the Minister would have full powers to do a deal that runs contrary to or overruns devolved powers? What is a specific trade deal? That needs to be defined, so as to limit the scope of the regulatory powers being granted by the Bill. A lot more clarity needs to come through in terms of the legal writing of it.