Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Taiwo Owatemi and John Lamont(4 years, 1 month ago)
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John Lamont (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (Con)
What steps his Department is taking to support self-employed people affected by the covid-19 outbreak. [907785]
Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)
What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the extension of the self-employment income support scheme. [907788]
Protection of UK Food Standards
Debate between Taiwo Owatemi and John Lamont(4 years, 5 months ago)
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Taiwo Owatemi (Coventry North West) (Lab)
I commend the hon. Member for securing the important debate. Like him, I have received countless emails and letters from my Coventry residents who are rightly concerned about a number of our protections, particularly food standards, post Brexit. Does he agree that we should aim for the highest possible standards and protect those that we already enjoy here in the UK?
John Lamont
I completely agree with the hon. Member. To reiterate my earlier point, UK imports and food standards have not changed as a consequence of our leaving the European Union. Cabinet Ministers have committed at the Dispatch Box to maintaining food standards. The Prime Minister is committed to them, too. It is wrong to say that, just because we cannot control the production standards in another country, we cannot control our own import standards and food regulations. There is no other trade agreement where one country imposes its food production standards on another partner. It is also the case that WTO rules prevent such clauses in the trade deals that it governs.