Oral Answers to Questions

Matt Western Excerpts

Thursday 14th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Robin Walker]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right—we are leaving the European Union; we are not leaving Europe. The Prime Minister has been very clear that we will want to work together on shared challenges such as global warming and the environment.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

T8. Does the Secretary of State agree that the worst place for someone to be in any negotiation is when they have fixed and declared their own deadline? In tabling amendment 381, the Government have effectively put a gun to their own head.

[Mr Baker]

The House voted overwhelmingly for the Act of Parliament that triggered article 50. The terms of article 50 were well known to this House, and they involve a fixed duration of two years.

EU Exit Negotiations

Matt Western Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

Of course the referendum question was a short question, but it was a very long campaign. In that campaign, both sides made it plain that being outside the union meant being outside the customs union and outside the single market. Both sides made that plain and, if need be, I can point the right hon. Gentleman to the television programmes on which that was said. I have explained to the House that regulatory alignment is not harmonisation. It is a question of ensuring similar outcomes in areas where we want to have trade relationships and free and frictionless trade. Anything we agree for Northern Ireland in that respect, if we get our free trade area, will apply to the whole country.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State confirm today that Brexit is the

“easiest thing in human history”?

If it is, how is it that the Government are incapable of making it so?

[Mr Davis]

As the House can see, it is a complete cinch.

EU Exit Negotiations

Matt Western Excerpts

Tuesday 5th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Matt Western.

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I have just experienced what it is like to be the last Member called and to realise that nearly all the questions have already been asked. I will try to make this one slightly fresh.

Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that exchange rates are seen across the world as the measure of confidence in a country and reinforce the decisions of businesses and others to invest there? Since the negotiations started, our currency has fallen against the euro and the dollar. What does that say about how well the negotiations are going?

[Mr Davis]

I will start by helping the hon. Gentleman with his view of the House of Commons: the motto of this place is, “Everything has been said, but it has not yet been said by everyone”, so he is in a good position.

I thought the hon. Gentleman’s view of currencies had gone out with Harold Wilson—“the pound in your pocket” and all that. The simple truth that is a currency lands at the level that works best for the country, and that is what is happening here. We are seeing a significant increase in manufacturing and in exports and an increase in our competitiveness, so I would not worry about that. We do have to worry about inflationary effects, but so far they have been relatively minimal.