UK’s Withdrawal from the EU

Seema Malhotra Excerpts
Thursday 14th February 2019

(5 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Keir Starmer Portrait Keir Starmer
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I completely agree with that intervention and that observation.

Seema Malhotra Portrait Seema Malhotra (Feltham and Heston) (Lab/Co-op)
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My right hon. and learned Friend has been talking to businesses, as I have. Does he agree that the issue of no deal is a matter not simply for 28 March, but for now? Exports can take six weeks and companies need to make decisions now about how they are planning to trade.

Keir Starmer Portrait Keir Starmer
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I do agree with that. One of the things that saddens me most from the discussions I have had in the last two or three weeks—the Secretary of State and others who have had such discussions know exactly what is being said—is that decisions are having to be made because of the fear of no deal. Such decisions are being triggered, but the chilling bit from the discussions I have had is that some of those steps are now irreversible. This is the first time we have come to that point.