Oral Answers to Questions

Philippa Whitford Excerpts

Thursday 7th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Baker]

May I begin by paying tribute to my right hon. Friend for all the work he has done in the Department? The quality of the work I inherited is a testament to the leadership he provided in the Department. I am most grateful to him. He makes a good point: secondary legislation is a long-standing mechanism for making detailed changes to the law, with the scrutiny procedure for each instrument agreed by Parliament. Since their introduction, every Government have used statutory instruments and every Parliament has debated and approved statutory instruments.

[Dr Philippa Whitford (Central Ayrshire) (SNP)]

The Minister earlier extolled the benefits of the World Trade Organisation should there be a no-deal scenario, but there is no automatic equivalent to the single aviation market or the open skies agreement. What contingency are the Minister and his team making to protect our aviation industry?

[Mr Baker]

The hon. Lady makes a good point. The Government are well aware of those issues, and we continue to develop our contingency plans not only in those areas, but right across Government.