Legislating for UK Withdrawal from the EU

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 30th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

As the hon. Lady will have seen, there is an entire section on overseas territories and the like. My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State has been engaging in continuous discussion with Gibraltar about these matters, and we will seek to defend its interests as best we can.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Will the Secretary of State be clearer, please? How many EU laws will become UK laws? I think he has denied that it could be up to 1,000, so what is his best estimate?

[Mr Davis]

Well, all the EU laws will become UK laws as a result of the Bill. There will be subsequent changes—presumably through primary legislation—in, for example, immigration law.

[Nick Smith]

Combien?

[Mr Davis]

The hon. Gentleman shouts out, in French, “How many?” I am not going to try and give him a sort of “never mind the quality, feel the width” answer. The simple truth is that all EU law will move into UK law.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 9th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)]

2. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on transitional arrangements for the UK leaving the EU.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

17. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on transitional arrangements for the UK leaving the EU.

[The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr David Davis)]

We will want to have reached agreement on our future partnership within two years of the article 50 process. Article 50 is clear—we did not write it—that it should take two years to negotiate the withdrawal, and any deal must take into account the new relationship. We recognise that a cliff edge for business or a threat to stability would be in neither side’s interest. A phased process of implementation in which both Britain and the EU institutions and member states prepare for the new relationship is likely to be in our mutual interest, and that will be to everyone’s benefit if that is what we agree.

[Mr Davis]

The hon. Gentleman raises a very important point, because that is central not just to IT and database industries, but to every industry now. The difference with Bermuda is that it was not at a point of identity of data standards when it started its negotiations. We will be at a point of identity at the point of departure, and we will undoubtedly have to agree some regime whereby we maintain equivalence—not identity, but equivalence—thereafter. It is unlikely that we will need transitional arrangements on that; it is much more likely that we will need an ongoing relationship on it.

[Nick Smith]

Blaenau Gwent has relied on EU structural funding in recent years and, though we are leaving the EU, the need for infrastructure investment remains really high. Infrastructure has a long lead-in, so will the Secretary of State tell me what transitional arrangements will be in place to ensure that Blaenau Gwent gets the best deal to boost its economy after 2020?

[Mr Davis]

The Treasury made it clear, very rapidly at the beginning of this process, that it would underwrite agreements made with the European Union that carried on beyond the point of Brexit as long as they met value-for-money requirements. The responsibility for making that judgment in the case of the hon. Gentleman’s constituency will lie with the Welsh Government, so I do not see that there is a risk there. Beyond 2020, the EU will have its own budget arrangements anyway, and we will be in the same position.

Exiting the EU: New Partnership

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

My hon. Friend refers to the need to negotiate ongoing arrangements in parallel with the departure arrangements. As he says, article 50 refers to having regard to ongoing arrangements, and a negotiation on departure arrangements cannot be concluded before the ongoing arrangements have been concluded. I have already made that point to Michel Barnier, my opposite number, and I think the Prime Minister has made that point to a number of her opposite numbers around the European Union. This will be the first issue that we need to resolve at the beginning of the negotiations, so my hon. Friend is quite right.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Will Parliament get a vote on the Government’s intended final deal before the deal is struck with the European Union?

[Mr Davis]

I suspect that the final vote here will be before the final ratification in the European Union. Its ratification process is much slower than ours will be.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 26th January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Farmers are worried that crops will rot in the ground without a seasonal workers scheme. Will that be included in the promised White Paper?

[Mr Jones]

The hon. Gentleman makes another important point. The farming industry is reliant, to a certain extent, on seasonal agricultural workers. As he knows, a seasonal agricultural workers scheme existed until fairly recently, and that is one of the models that the Government are considering.

Article 50

Nick Smith Excerpts

Monday 7th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

Yes.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

Why does the Secretary of State think his Conservative friend, the now resigned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham, believed that Ministers had ignored Parliament since the Brexit vote?

[Mr Davis]

Strictly speaking, that is a question for him, not me. He is a very good friend of mine and I will not say anything against him. I am very sorry to see him go, but beyond that, I thought he got it completely wrong.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 20th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davis]

My hon. Friend makes an important point, which goes to the heart of the previous question about maintaining stability and confidence. We have said in terms that the great repeal Act will put into domestic law all the acquis as it exists at the point at which we depart. Everything that is in European law at that point goes into British law.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

In Blaenau Gwent, the successful dips company Zorba Foods faces a bigger bill for bringing its ingredients into the country. With petrol prices going up, the falling pound is making every step of the journey to the dinner plate much more expensive. What are the Government doing to help businesses that are faced with a steep increase in costs and families who are faced with higher food bills?

[Mr Davis]

It is not the place of the Government to judge what is the right and wrong exchange rate. The hon. Gentleman is quite right to say that the exchange rate has gone down quite notably, but that gives both advantages and disadvantages. It has already changed, for example, the success of various industries in exports and some other domestic industries. We hope—more than that, we intend—that the balance will work out to everybody’s advantage in the long run.