Withdrawal Agreement: Proposed Changes Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Exiting the European Union
Sarah Wollaston
Main Page: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)Department Debates - View all Sarah Wollaston's debates with the Department for Exiting the European Union
Withdrawal Agreement: Proposed Changes
Sarah Wollaston Excerpts(4 years, 6 months ago)
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James Duddridge
I thank my hon. Friend for her question. We will maintain environmental and animal welfare standards. I know that she works tirelessly to improve those standards, both in Chelmsford and with Back Benchers. I remember many a campaign that she has led in her time in the House of Commons, particularly on environmental issues, recycling, and changing behaviours and perceptions. I thank her for that work, and there is nothing in this process that means that we are going to go back on any of those commitments. In fact, the Government are committed to going further, as she has demanded.
Dr Sarah Wollaston (Totnes) (LD)
It is almost as if members of the Government have been taking lessons dancing around slippery poles this afternoon. Essentially, we do not have a credible deal, because there are no customs borders anywhere in the world without some form of physical infrastructure. We have a Government who are still insisting that they will obey law, but only those parts that it chooses to obey. Will the Minister at least confirm that the Government will comply with the spirit and the provisions of the Benn Act in full?
James Duddridge
In answer to the latter question, yes. When it comes to slippery poles, the thing that is slippery is introducing a ten-minute rule Bill to say that if hon. Members, for whatever reason, cross the Floor of the House and leave their party they should stand in a by-election, then not doing that when she crosses the Floor of the House. That is slippery.