UK-Israel Trade Negotiations

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2022 Westminster Hall

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Paisley. I congratulate the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) on securing this debate. I hope he will pass on our thanks to his fellow members of the Backbench Business Committee for allowing us to have this debate. I thank the hon. Member for Hendon (Dr Offord) for graciously saying that we do not all have to come back here again next Wednesday morning. Otherwise, I would be reusing, rather than recycling, my speech. I also thank the other speakers we have heard so far, and I will try to refer to them all during my speech. I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, as I have previously visited Jerusalem, the west bank and the Knesset as part of a parliamentary delegation.

Successive Israeli leaders, from Golda Meir to Yitzhak Rabin, were proud members of the Israeli Labour party and proud socialists. In the case of Yitzhak Rabin, he was murdered because of his historic work and commitment to peace through the Oslo accord. The British Labour party has strong and historic links with Israel through the Israeli Labour party.

It is in that spirit that we welcome and support increasing and improving the UK’s trade links with Israel. Of course, we welcome any trade deals that support jobs here in the UK and British businesses. That is why our Government should be taking advantage of trade with countries such as Israel—to ensure that UK exporters and businesses can do well and that British business can bounce back after the pandemic.

Speakers today have pointed out that the UK and Israel are two of the world’s most high-tech economies. That is surely a benefit, and a key issue, as speakers have said, in future negotiations with Israel.

The total trade in goods and services with Israel was worth £4.6 billion in the last available figures. I thought that Israel was the UK’s 40th largest partner, but the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who has temporarily left the room, said it was 42nd. Either way, as the hon. Member for Airdrie and Shotts (Ms Qaisar), the SNP Front-Bench spokesperson, said, this is a proportionately small amount of the UK’s total trade. Let us get these things in proportion.

UK exports to Israel are, however, worth more than £2 billion and support about 37,000 jobs in the UK, including, as speakers have said, many in skilled manufacturing industries, such as the car industry, but also technology, health-tech, security, data and so on. According to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, 6,600 VAT-registered businesses currently export goods to Israel. I would welcome the Minister’s providing further information about what targets the Government want to reach for the number of businesses exporting to Israel in the future. I am talking about both the level of jobs and the level of investment. Is that a target for any future trade negotiations? There are also a number of important areas where Israel provides crucial imports for consumers here in the UK. That is especially the case, as others have said, in relation to pharmaceuticals and companies such as Teva, whose largest customer is of course the NHS.

There are other business links. The hon. Member for Harrow East mentioned the tech hub run through the UK embassy and the importance of technology and data in the economy. The hon. Member for Southport (Damien Moore) told us about the trials of the very interesting camera that people swallow for cancer checks and about VR training. The hon. Member for Buckingham (Greg Smith) mentioned digital security, which I did not know about. It is very important for any of us—all of us—who have bank accounts and do our banking online and on our phones. He also mentioned tourism, which is of course an important source of business for Israel, and of course for Palestine, because in and around Jerusalem we have the holiest sites for the three largest monotheistic religions in the world. Also, the world centre for the Baha’i faith is in Haifa, I think.

Additionally, more than 300 Israeli high-tech companies have bases in the UK, with 100 of those having been established in the last decade. Those firms bring jobs and investment to the UK. I look forward to hearing from the Minister about what steps the Government are taking to support our tech industry and to build strong partnerships between UK and Israeli tech hubs.

The Government have recently signed a further deal with Israel, which builds off the continuity FTA signed in 2019. This “road map” commits to further action around issues ranging from cyber-security to improving business links through the UK-Israel innovation summit in March of this year. We welcome these steps and hope that our Government continue to work with the Israeli Government on these important bilateral issues. The memorandum of understanding says that the UK and Israel will work on the

“development of a new, higher ambition free trade agreement.”

I look forward to hearing more details from the Minister about this and the benefits it could bring to so many sectors of our economy in the UK. We want trade deals that support well-paid and skilled jobs here, and we will support those that do so, as an Israel trade deal would.

It is equally important, however, that the Government ensure that human rights issues are considered and addressed when any trade deal is being struck. Trade should not happen in a vacuum, and British values are important in our trade deals. Around the world there has been a worrying pattern of the Government seeming to adopt an “any deal will do” approach, with key issues being jettisoned and ignored. We have already seen evidence of this in the Government’s recent deal with Australia, with British farmers thrown under the bus. I am extremely concerned that in future negotiations, such as those with the Gulf Council, human rights and rule of law issues could be cast aside. The Minister for Trade Policy did not take the opportunity this morning to answer my question about the Gulf Council deal.

The SNP Front-Bench spokesperson, the hon. Member for Airdrie and Shotts, made a number of key points about human rights and illegal settlements. Illegal settlements are possibly the top human rights issue, and they are in breach of international law. We have seen their continued expansion at a rapidly increasing pace, especially since the start of the Trump Administration in the US. Our Government must object in the strongest possible terms in all relevant forums, not least in trade negotiations, to the expansion of illegal settlements.

We know that settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory are illegal in international law, and that includes settlements in East Jerusalem, as well as in the west bank. United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 states that

“the establishment…of settlements in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967…has no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law”.

These settlements entrench divisions, and I know from meeting Palestinians when I visited the west bank that these settlements make a just and lasting peace deal even harder to achieve. I was told that around five years ago, and I fear the prospects have only got worse since then.

The recent change of Government in Israel offers an opportunity for a change in approach, especially as the previous Government’s formal proposal in which they threatened to annex the west bank has been stopped after widespread and near universal opposition, including from parliamentarians across all parties here in Westminster. Although the formal annexation has been stopped, the expansion of illegal settlements continues, and Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and the west bank continue to experience eviction from their homes and even demolition of their homes and property.

Both the EU’s agreement and the subsequent continuity agreement between the UK and Israel mandated that goods from illegal settlements would be excluded from the preferential terms of any UK-Israeli trade agreements. On this issue, I have a few questions for the Minister. First, will he confirm that the UK Government still support the principle of non-preferential trade for goods from illegal settlements, and will the Government uphold that non-preferential treatment in any future FTA or deal with Israel? Secondly, are the Government aware of the current level of known UK trade with Israeli settlements? Additionally, will the Minister make it clear that British companies have an obligation to ensure that their products and services are not used in grave breaches of international law?

I know that some people have called for the UK to block all trade with Israel, but that is not an action that we support. Such an indiscriminate measure would hurt millions of ordinary Israelis and Palestinians, both in Israel and in the west bank and Jerusalem, and it is not a policy applied to other countries. We do not support a ban on goods from the state of Israel, nor do we support the policy of boycott, disinvestment and sanctions, which is often known as BDS. The hon. Member for Hendon explained how the boycott has affected Palestinian businesses. They already suffer from a lot of difficulties, and this boycott could make things even worse. I therefore share the concerns about BDS that were raised by the hon. Members for Harrow East, for Southport, for Buckingham and for Hendon and others in this debate.

In the wider context of our overall relations with Israel, the Labour party insists on a renewed focus on negotiating a two-state solution that ensures a viable and sovereign Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel. We welcome the Government taking this step towards a new free trade agreement with Israel, which we hope will benefit UK businesses and consumers, but we also want to ensure that the Government address the key issues around human rights and specifically those relating to settlements. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mike Freer]

My hon. Friend raises an important point, particularly for her constituency, and I can give the assurance that the Government will continue to work closely with Seafish and the Shellfish Association of Great Britain to encourage their members to look at new markets and drive awareness of UK seafood in international markets. We have a network of trade advisers in the UK and overseas who can support the sector to trade successfully, and I am happy to put any of her businesses in contact with them.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

In December, the Government snuck through a change to the UK’s arms export rules, and charities such as Oxfam have warned that these changes will lessen transparency over arms exports and could see UK arms being used against civilians such as those in Yemen. What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that UK arms exports are not used to commit breaches of international humanitarian law?

[The Minister for Trade Policy (Penny Mordaunt)]

The Government have not “snuck through” such changes. We are very open and transparent about the policies that sit behind our very good arms export controls, which are also scrutinised by this House. The Department is due to meet a number of stakeholders; I can check whether Oxfam is part of that. We meet regularly to discuss these issues. We have one of the best arms export regimes in the world; it is flexible and changes as situations change. The hon. Lady will know that we recently made some new changes because of what is happening in parts of the world. She should be confident in what we are doing on that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 3rd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order. Will the Secretary of State get off the platform? We want to get through the list.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab) [V]]

The Minister said that he welcomed the Government’s appointment of Tony Abbott as a trade adviser, but on Sky this morning, Kay Burley reminded the Health Secretary that the appointee is a misogynist and homo- phobe, which the International Trade Secretary’s colleague appeared to confirm by saying, “But he’s also an expert on trade.” Could the International Trade Secretary not find an expert for the role who demonstrates positive British values and, by the way, is not a climate change denier?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I think it is absolute hypocrisy to hear that type of argument from the Labour party. Until recently, they had a shadow Chancellor, whom the hon. Lady supported, who called for the lynching of one of my female colleagues and never apologised. Labour has never elected a female leader, despite having the opportunity time and again. The reality is that they would rather virtue-signal and indulge in tokenism than take real action to improve the lives of women.

Trade Bill

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Report stage & 3rd reading & 3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Monday 20th July 2020 Commons Chamber

[Jo Gideon (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Con)]

I am excited by the possibilities for our future as an independent trading nation, and I support the Bill and our listening Government in taking us forward. The Bill is about necessary data gathering for future improvements, cheerleading, safeguarding and the effective communication of helpful information. It is not about protectionism or feather-bedding. The balance is to enable British exports that can compete against the world marketplace for goods and services to do so on a level playing field.

I believe that the Bill helps to get the balance right. For example, it is quite right that the Government intend to join the Agreement on Government Procurement as an independent party on substantially the same terms as we had under EU membership. The GPA provides UK businesses with access to public procurement opportunities worth some £1.3 trillion per year—opportunities for which they are willing and able to compete fairly. Of course, GPA partner access to UK public contracts will ensure taxpayers and consumers get the best value for money on major contracts, which in turn maintains the imperative for UK firms to stay innovative and competitive.

An important part of the balance is to ensure opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, not just the mega companies. The UK rightly pursues an active SME participation procurement policy, and as an independent party in the GPA we will have the opportunity to engage others on sustainable procurement, social value and workforce considerations.

When exporters do everything right, and when they produce great goods and services at the right price and in accordance with all the relevant rules, the last thing they want to face is competition that has circumvented the rules and is artificially supported, so another part of getting the balance right is to ensure that remedies are available when needed. I welcome the Trade Remedies Authority, which will have important work to do in ensuring continuity of remedial action, not least for Stoke-on-Trent’s ceramics.

I applaud the Department’s determination to secure an ever-increasing number of continuity agreements. It is important for business confidence that we make as seamless a transition into becoming an independent trading nation as possible, while signposting that the door is open to better trade agreements with various partners in the years to come. The Bill provides both continuity for agreements and remedies inherited from our membership of the EU and for the future independent free-trading policy that we wish to strike. The Bill protects our national standards for our workforce, animal welfare, the environment, our NHS and our SMEs. It is a solid first step into the world for global Britain. I will be pleased to support it tonight.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

When I spoke in an earlier debate on global Britain, I was accused of

“supping from the cup of pessimism”—[Official Report, 30 January 2020; Vol. 670, c. 1035.]

when I spoke about Britain’s future outside the European Union. Yet what Members from both sides of the House want is what is best for our country, our economy, our environment, and the safety and wellbeing of everyone living and working here. Many of my constituents have written to me about those concerns, but they also expect me, as their elected representative, to be in the Parliament that has a say, with full accountability—not merely to receive a report once a deal is done. As the Lords EU Committee has warned,

“mere accountability after the fact”

does not make for meaningful parliamentary scrutiny. There is parliamentary scrutiny in the US, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, and we will have less control than we had as members of the EU.

Oversight is not merely a lofty concept; it has real-world implications. Others have mentioned threats to the NHS, food safety, environmental standards and so on, and I share those concerns, but I will give another example: car safety standards. A major reason that the US has triple the number of road deaths per million compared with the UK is because as EU members our cars are safer than those sold in the US. Our cars have front and side impact T-bone protection, which gives protection for car occupants. We also have requirements for much safer car fronts. Remember bull bars? We are not allowed to have them anymore. They are still prevalent in the US, killing and maiming children, pedestrians, cyclists and so on. New cars sold in the EU will have collision avoidance systems, to further protect pedestrians and cyclists. This Trade Bill risks cars imported from outside the EU presenting serious risks to the safety of UK road users. Can the Minister guarantee that no vehicles will be imported into the UK after these trade deals are done unless it meets recently agreed EU vehicle safety standards?

Investor-state dispute settlements have been used by corporations to get rid of plain packaging on cigarettes, scrap bans on fracking, overturn bans on certain medications and stop compensation payments after oil spills. Without transparency, those with the deepest pockets win, we lose our consumer, environmental and social rights and our planet is further threatened. Will the Minister confirm that there will be no ISDS clauses in any trade deal signed by the UK?

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 5th March 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

After we have left the European Union, we have a huge opportunity to strike new data and digital agreements with the rest of the world. We are looking for a data and digital chapter in the US FTA. We are looking for an advanced data and digital chapter with Japan. We have the opportunity to create a global powerhouse here in the UK.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

As the Secretary of State said, the UK is a world leader in future technology, yet it is also assessed to be one of the sectors most at risk from Brexit. Therefore, new opportunities for tech sector start-ups are absolutely important. The Department was recently criticised by tech sector magazines for cutting funding for the tradeshow access programme, which is used by entrepreneurs in the tech sector to get to potential clients overseas. So will she set out what funding will be available, and with what long-term guarantees for those SMEs and start-ups, so that they can make the best of opportunities through the TAP?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I disagree with the premise of the hon. Lady’s question. Now that we have left the EU, we have the opportunity to set our own rules and regulations in tech, and really lead the world in areas like artificial intelligence and blockchain. That is exactly what we are seeking to do with these new free trade agreements. We are also seeking, at the World Trade Organisation, to lead in areas like the joint statement on e-commerce, and looking for new SME-friendly chapters in our trade deals to help exactly these types of tech start-ups to sell their goods around the world.

Global Britain

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 30th January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

It is an honour to follow the maiden speech of the new hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West (Stuart Anderson), who told us his powerful life story. He illustrated so personally the cost and damage of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the struggles he had overcoming it. Bringing his experience to this place was so powerful, and I look forward to hearing more about his commitment to his constituents and to this country that he spoke about so eloquently.

This debate is about Britain’s place in the world. I know from what Government Members have been saying today and what they have said previously that they will spend much time and many contributions in the Chamber on this topic, covering UK trade deals and foreign relations, and defining what the UK thinks and what the UK will do. But how much time are the Government spending on reflecting on the other side of that coin—on how the UK is viewed by the rest of the world? How much time will this House spend discussing that? I cannot be the only Member of this House who over the past four years, when travelling to other countries for work or on holiday—or when meeting overseas visitors here—has been asked incredulously, “What is going on in your country? Why does the UK seem so determined to undermine its international reputation and economic position?” The overall impression of these people is that Brexit has undermined our standing and reputation across the world, and that is certainly the impression that I and many of my colleagues get.

There is one aspect of the issue that does not make sense to other people, especially to other European people. The leave campaign and the rhetoric of many leavers over the last four years has been full of sentiments about the UK “being done to” by the EU. Yet Seb Dance MEP pointed out clearly on last night’s “Newsnight” that our elected MEPs have actually had far more ability to initiate and amend legislation than a Back-Bench Member of this House. Sadly, Seb is no longer able to have that influence on behalf of the UK in the Brussels Parliament.

Some leave campaigners—not necessarily Conservative Members present today— have even suggested on social media over the past months and years that by leaving the EU, Britain could once again be great, ruling half the world as we once did. Too often, I heard Conservative Members be quite relaxed in saying that economic and reputational damage was a price worth paying for what I would call the illusion of freedom. What national-level politician anywhere else in the world would expect respect from their voters when admitting to that level of defeatism?

[Tom Hunt (Ipswich) (Con)]

What is illusory about finally having the ability to control our borders and our own international trade policy?

[Ruth Cadbury]

Because it is illusory, and I will keep pressing that point, as my colleagues, including those on the Front Bench, have done.

The mantra “get Brexit done” informs this Government’s rhetoric and the style I suspect they will be adopting going into the trade negotiations. As we heard earlier from the Secretary of State, they have a list of future deals—with the EU, the US and many other countries—that they imply will be quick and easy. You do not need to know much about negotiation to know that it is never quick, but a slow and deliberative process. International trade negotiations and deals take an average of about seven years to complete, and we are talking about eight months—not even a year—to complete a deal with the EU. It also does not take a rocket scientist to know that the larger and more powerful party will always come out with more at the end of the negotiations. By leaving the EU we are no longer an equal member—in fact, a relatively strong member—of the single biggest economic trade bloc in the world. We will be the fifth, sixth or seventh most powerful country and economy in the world, and we will be a long way behind the EU, the US and China in the size of our economy and therefore our negotiating power.

The Labour party, and many UK businesses trading with or in competition with other markets, fear that the Government’s aspiration for quick and dirty deals will undermine our standards, businesses and public services—the very things that many voters thought they were protecting when they voted leave. The “get Brexit done” party is talking about quick negotiations that, as far as I can see, will undermine so much. Such negotiations risk losing what we have achieved as fully participating members of the EU for the past 40 years, including high-quality food and safety, consumer and environmental standards, and workers’ rights. The climate emergency is now at the top of the international political agenda, and is another important aspect in which we risk losing out as we drop down in the pecking order through the international trade negotiations.

By leaving, we undermine any hope of a close relationship and co-operation with the EU in the future, compared with what Seb Dance described as the strong role we have just left at the top of the table. We heard a quote from Ronald Reagan earlier today, but I am going to quote another hero—or perhaps I should say heroine—of the Conservative party, Margaret Thatcher, who said in 1975, before we joined the EEC:

“If Britain were to withdraw, we might imagine that we could regain complete national sovereignty. But it would, in fact, be an illusion.”

I very, very sadly and reluctantly accept that the UK is leaving the EU at 11 pm tomorrow night. But I and my hon. Friends will continue to demand the power to scrutinise and vote on trade deals so that we can make sure that UK values, and UK businesses and their interests, are at the centre of all future trade deals. It is shocking that the Government removed the power of Parliament to do this in the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020. Labour Members expect parliamentarians to be at the centre of all future trade deals. The reason we want this is to protect our global and our national environment, and to protect our consumer standards and our workers’ rights, but most importantly, for the future of life on earth. Climate change, as I said, must be at the centre of all our trade negotiations. The UK should decarbonise export finance. As my hon. Friend the shadow Secretary of State said, current projects supported by the UK export system, when complete, will dump 69 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. The Environmental Audit Committee said in the previous Parliament that this is

“the elephant in the room undermining the UK’s international climate…targets”.

I also concur with the shadow Secretary of State about the atrocity of awarding export licences in respect of arms sales, products used for torture, and other controlled exports. This undermines further our reputation as a morally credible partner across the globe. Labour has called for robust enforcement of export licensing criteria in respect of arms sales and other controlled exports. Personally, I would like the UK to diversify out of the arms industry altogether and put those skills, technologies and jobs into productive technologies in areas such as renewable energy generation.

Do Government Members really want to take the UK back to being the poor man of Europe that I remember from my childhood, or will they share with us in a more positive vision for the UK’s place in the world based on the values that helped to shape Europe after 1989 and the fall of the Berlin wall—openness, democracy, compassion, and protection of the world’s precious resources and environment?

--- Later in debate ---

[Conor Burns]

My hon. Friend will doubtless have been heard as well.

I pay tribute to those who made maiden speeches. The hon. Member for Aberdeen South (Stephen Flynn) gave an accomplished performance. I disagreed with almost every word of it, but he delivered it very effectively indeed. I thank him, from many of us on the Government Benches, for his kind words about his predecessor Ross Thomson.

My hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich West (Shaun Bailey) spoke of his conversation with the noble Lady Boothroyd. We on the Treasury Bench understand the need to deliver, and having listened to him, I am certain that we will deliver for him and that he will not let Baroness Boothroyd down.

My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton South West (Stuart Anderson) gave the most moving and deeply personal speech of the day. I salute him for his courage in speaking in that way in the Chamber. It was a genuine privilege to be on the Front Bench to hear his contribution.

The hon. Member for Streatham (Bell Ribeiro-Addy) gave an amusing and engaging speech, and spoke of her predecessor, Chuka Umunna. We all have things to learn from our predecessors. I learned much from Sir John Butterfill. I continue to learn much from the right hon. the Lord Eden of Winton, who first came to this House in 1954 and still provides me with excellent advice. The one piece of advice that the hon. Lady perhaps should not take from her predecessor is to join the Lib Dems—however tempting a prospect and however desperate they are. It would not be a career-enhancing move.

My hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Anthony Mangnall) gave an absolute tour de force of a speech, in which he spoke a lot about fishing and ports, and then more about fish. I would say there is absolutely nothing fishy about my hon. Friend, which is not something that we could always say about his predecessor.

There are many who are worried about us leaving the European Union. They seem to think that we are going to cut all ties and walk away. The EU will remain our closest and largest market, and the Government are committed—as we committed with the EU in the political declaration—to signing a free trade agreement by the end of this year. But there are massive opportunities for the United Kingdom to exploit outside the European Union. According to the IMF, 90% of global GDP growth in the next five years will come from outside the EU. The trade deals we seek to negotiate, alongside those with the EU, represent a raft of exciting new trade agreements with other priority countries, our aim being to cover 80% of our trade with FTAs within three years. The United States, our largest single trading partner, is the obvious place to start—which is why we started there—but we also look to like-minded partners such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already made enormous strides in this regard, along with engaging positively on our potential accession to the CPTPP—heralded, again, by my hon. Friend the Member for Peterborough (Paul Bristow).

As I travel, I see enormous interest in what leaving the European Union means for other countries in their relationship with the United Kingdom. When I listened to the speech by the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury), I concluded that she must have been supping from the cup of pessimism. If what she was saying in the House today is what she is saying to people overseas, no wonder they think we are in a bad way. I find when I go to Chile, to Brazil, to Morocco, to Algeria—

[Ruth Cadbury]

The Minister talks about pessimism from overseas. When I visited businesses in Mumbai in 2018, they told me that it was incredibly difficult for them to do business in the UK because of the restrictive nature of getting business visas to come to the UK to meet their counterparts here. What conversations is he having with the Home Office to ensure that it is making it as easy for businesses overseas, in all these countries that the Government now want to trade with, to come here and do business as it is when they visit other countries—our competitor countries?

[Conor Burns]

The hon. Lady missed out only one thing in that wonderful intervention, and that was to conclude by welcoming the commitment to a points-based immigration system that will make it easier for people from around the world to come to the United Kingdom.

[Ruth Cadbury]

rose—

[Conor Burns]

No, I am not giving way again.

As my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said at the UK-Africa investment summit, we want a system that is about people, not passports. I see enormous interest about what we can do—

--- Later in debate ---

[Ruth Cadbury]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Could the Minister please stop trying to change my words? I was talking about visitors’ visas for business people.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Nigel Evans)]

That is not a point of order for the Chair; indeed, it was not even made to the Chair.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2020 Commons Chamber

[Victoria Atkins]

My hon. Friend is an exemplar of the fantastic contribution that women in their 50s can make to a workplace. We know that there are 4.5 million women aged 50 to 64 in employment, and we are committed to supporting older workers to remain in the labour market through our work on the Fuller Working Lives strategy and through the appointment of a business champion for older workers to spearhead our work to support employers to retain, retrain and recruit older workers.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

Can the Minister clarify whether the Government’s commitment to investing in infrastructure will include support to improve social infrastructure, such as childcare?

[Victoria Atkins]

I am so glad that the hon. Lady has raised that subject. Childcare is, of course, a vital part of this Government’s programme to level up opportunities across the country. I suspect we shall be hearing a little bit more on childcare from relevant Ministers in questions in due course, but we are clear that we want the workplace to be welcoming to everyone. We want to harness their talents and unleash their potential, and helping parents with childcare is vital to that.

Export Licences: High Court Judgment

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 20th June 2019 Commons Chamber

[Dr Fox]

We are ultimately accountable in the courts, as we have been, and the divisional court was clear in its praise for how Government rigour was applied to this process. We are not in breach of the consolidated criteria, nor has the Court of Appeal said that. What the Court of Appeal said is that the process by which decisions are reached needs to change, and needs to take into account the possibility of international humanitarian law having been breached. To compare that, for example, to the incidents in the Scott report is simply not credible.

Of course, we will review all licences in light of today’s judgment, as we are required to do. That will include open licences.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

The UK’s significant levels of arms production and exports is often justified by the need to protect jobs, and today we have been told that there is a risk of terrorism if we do not export arms to this appalling regime. Rather than being complicit in killing almost 100,000 Yemenis, if the Government really want to protect jobs, reduce the risk of terrorism and enhance the UK’s reputation around the world, why not stop Brexit?

[Dr Fox]

I have heard some really quite idiotic questions in my time in the House, but that one takes the biscuit.

Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 22nd February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Greg Hands]

Let me say first that the UK played a leading role in establishing the European Union arrangements with countries such as Mexico and Switzerland in the first place. As for the question of where we go from here, our priority is to maintain continuity in our trading relations, ensuring that all the 40-plus trading agreements we have with 70-plus countries become UK arrangements as we leave the European Union. The precise format of the further discussions that we will have with those partners will be a matter for future arrangements.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

3. Whether he plans to replicate the terms of EU free trade agreements in trade deals with Switzerland, Norway and Turkey after the UK has left the EU; and if he will make a statement.

[The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade (Dr Liam Fox)]

As we leave the EU, the Government intend as far as possible to maintain the effects of existing EU free trade agreements and other EU preferential arrangements. That includes agreements with Switzerland, Norway and Turkey.

[Ruth Cadbury]

I am going to pursue the questions asked by my hon. Friends the Members for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) and for Bradford South (Judith Cummins), which the Minister for Trade Policy did not answer. In 2016, the Secretary of State told the International Trade Committee that he would prioritise securing an agreement with Switzerland. The current relationship between the EU and Switzerland is overseen by some 20 joint committees. Very specifically, how many of those committees will be replaced by UK-Swiss committees, and how far along in the process of setting up those institutions is his Department?

[Dr Fox]

I met Swiss Ministers in Geneva recently, and we discussed what the future arrangement would be. Clearly, how we oversee the arrangement depends on what the arrangement itself is, and that is currently under negotiation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Guy Opperman]

In 2012, the overall participation of female employees in workplace pensions was 58%, but this has now increased to 80%, which is above the figure for men. In my hon. Friend’s constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1,020 employers have enrolled 6,000 employees into an auto-enrolled pension, including a very large proportion of women. I will update the House with the number of auto-enrolled employees in every constituency very shortly.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

T2. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that women are not asked about their family plans or their childcare arrangements in job interviews?

[Amber Rudd]

I think I can honestly say to the hon. Lady that I was as shocked as she no doubt was to hear about that. I will be discussing it with the Equality and Human Rights Commission and finding out what further communication to employers is needed to ensure that that does not take place, because it is clearly not allowed.