Oral Answers to Questions

Sarah Green Excerpts

Thursday 20th January 2022 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Sarah Green (Chesham and Amersham) (LD)]

1. What support her Department is providing to SMEs that trade with the EU.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Mike Freer)]

The refreshed export strategy, launched in November, focuses on the barriers to trade faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, using targeted interventions that help businesses at every stage of their exporting journey. Our newly unified Export Support Service provides a single point of contact for businesses trading with Europe, as one of the central elements of the strategy.

[Sarah Green]

After finally getting to grips with last year’s contradictory guidance on trading with the European Union, one family-run business in Chesham has immediately come up against problems with the new rules introduced this month. They tell me that

“we would love to do it all absolutely correctly”,

but that nobody will tell them what correctly is. Will the Minister support the thousands of UK businesses struggling to trade with Europe by clarifying the Government’s new rules, and will he work with colleagues in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to reopen and expand the SME Brexit support fund?

[Mike Freer]

The ESS is there to help traders who are struggling with elements of trading with Europe and it will continue to do so. It is available online and by telephone, but if the hon. Lady would like me to meet her constituents, I would be more than happy to do so.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mike Freer]

The UK-Australia free trade agreement could boost Scotland’s economy by about £120 million. The deal will help boost Scottish exports by removing tariffs of up to 5% on Scotch whisky and through additional commitments to release goods from customs quickly. Scotland’s services firms will also benefit from access to billions of pounds’ worth of Australian Government contracts. Staff will be able to travel for work with easier access to temporary entry visas.

[Sarah Green (Chesham and Amersham) (LD)]

T4. Can the Secretary of State confirm whether she is still undertaking discussions with UK trade partners on inserting clauses on investor-state dispute settlement systems into future trade deals? There is evidence that they are opaque and could open the UK to law suits from multinational corporations. Will she confirm whether she is still pursuing them?

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

Every free trade agreement is negotiated in relation to the other country and we will continue to work with those as we build these, to look at how we best bring together free trade agreements that will be beneficial to UK businesses and consumers.