Trade Bill

Wera Hobhouse Excerpts

Tuesday 9th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mark Menzies (Fylde) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy).

I am one of the Prime Minister’s trade envoys—I wanted to make that clear at the outset—but I speak today less as a trade envoy than as a constituency MP for a constituency that exports perhaps more than any other in the UK. We build Typhoon and Hawk fighter jets, and we make nuclear fuel, so we are dependent on international export markets. Tens of thousands of people are employed, directly and indirectly, as a result. I will focus on what this Bill is about and not what it is not about.

I pay tribute to the Secretary of State and the Minister for Trade Policy—I am delighted that both remain in their posts—for the work that they have done and the work, much of it unseen, that their very capable officials, both in-Department and in-country, do day in, day out on behalf of the United Kingdom. By so doing, they are securing hundreds of thousands of export-related jobs. Once again, I put on record my thanks for what these hard-working civil servants do.

In countries around the world, not just those that I represent as a trade envoy but those that I visit, the one thing that comes up, particularly in a post-Brexit environment, is a desire to do trade with the United Kingdom—not just to continue the trade that we do, but to build trade relations where they do not currently exist. The countries that I represent—Peru, Colombia, and Chile—are three markets with high growth potential. They are also three countries where we massively under-punch; we are nowhere near as significant as we ought to be. The work that has been put in by the Department for International Trade is a genuine effort to redress that, but we can do that and meet the concerns in these countries only if the Bill receives its Second Reading tonight. The main question that one gets asked, not by people on the street but by senior Government officials and business leaders, is, “What’s Brexit all about?” The question behind the question is, “What does this mean for the trade agreements and the terms of business that we have?” A fruit grower in Chile exporting to Tesco, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s wants to know what Brexit will mean, in a post-2019 environment, for the thousands of people employed supplying UK consumers.

When I was in Chile and Colombia in November as a trade envoy, I was able to tell people that the British Government were putting measures in place through this Bill that would ensure the continuity of the relations and the agreements that we have in place with those countries as a member of the EU. The Bill is not about putting new trade agreements in place; it is about ensuring that at the moment of exit the terms and conditions of trade flip over, so that British businesses out there trying to secure export orders, or British companies that are importing from key markets, are able to do business with certainty of that continuity. If we do not give them that certainty, they will have to tell their constituents who are worried about potentially losing their jobs as a result of Brexit that tonight they stood in the way of giving businesses that export to or import from key markets that continuity and certainty. This applies to businesses big and small, and people in all parts of this country.

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

In a former life, I was the export manager for our family manufacturing business, and I was very much involved in exporting to other countries. It was certainly not the EU that stopped us from exporting—there were many other factors. Can the hon. Gentleman tell me how this Bill is going to make a difference?

[Mark Menzies]

Unlike the hon. Lady, I do not live in a former life; I live in the here and now, and I am thinking about what happens post 2019. The Bill will give continuity and certainty to companies that export. The trade deals that we have with, for example, Colombia, Peru or Chile are the result of our membership of the EU, and unless those deals are rolled over, as the Bill will enable us to do, there will be a gap that is disastrous for all the men and women living in our constituencies. The Bill is about looking to the future and dealing with the world as it is, not how we would like it to be.

Another key provision in the Bill gives the Government the ability to collect important trade data. That will ensure that the Government—the Department for International Trade or any other branch of the Government—can better serve the interests of British exporters and of British companies that import into this country. It will ensure that we put money into the supply chain and show that we intend to add value to the exports we are involved in producing. This sensible and practical measure shows that the Government are looking to the future.

The United Kingdom must, by agreeing this Bill on Second Reading tonight, send out a clear message that, in the post-2019 environment, we want to trade with the rest of the world. As part of the conversation with individual nation states, we must make sure that their respective legislatures—their congresses, senates or parliaments—put in place reciprocal legislative changes where necessary. Although that will not be necessary in every case, some such measures will be needed to ensure that the reciprocal arrangements also flip over in advance of 2019. Unless we send out such a clear message tonight, confusion will reign because, as I said at the outset, there is a distinct lack of clarity in many countries across the world about what the future looks like for them.

I urge on the Government in their work. I recommend that the Secretary of State and the Minister ensure that our trade commissioners, where they are in place, continue the excellent work they have already begun and that DIT offices in such countries continue to be well resourced. I urge them to be ambitious.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

This Government are determined to leave the customs union and the single market, and so, unfortunately, are the official Opposition. The Bill would not be needed if, when leaving the EU, we were staying in the customs union. The first question to ask is therefore: why? Is it in our national interest, and will what replaces the customs union be better than what we have at the moment?

We have had many debates and amendments on this subject already, and many of us across all parties have made the case again and again for staying in the single market and the customs union as the best deal we have and are ever likely to negotiate. On our side, we have a good news story to tell. As a member of the single market and the customs union, we know what we have, we know the trade deals that we have negotiated, we have a good idea of the direction of travel, we have certainty and we can look back on many years of continuous prosperity. What about the offer on the table from the Government? Are there any positives? This should be the debate in this House, but it is not.

Brexit is not about what is best for the country as a whole, but about a narrower agenda for what might be good for a small group of people and organisations. There will be winners from a hard Brexit, but our country as a whole will not be the winner. This is why it is so mystifying that both the Government and the official Opposition want to leave the single market and the customs union. Each represents a different interest, but neither seems to care much about anyone else—the people in Northern Ireland who want peace, the people using public services that need to be properly funded, the jobs dependent on export and trade.

Travelling around the Pacific is not going to make much difference to UK trade. Talking to the United States is not likely to improve the trading links we already have as a member of the EU. It is the same across the world. Exactly what muscle and power will Britain have on its own, compared with its international influence as part of a big trading bloc? To borrow the Labour party’s soundbite, this should be for the many, not the few. Leaving the single market and the customs union will deliver for the few, not the many.

Another concern is about the role of Parliament in scrutinising what we might call replacement trade deals. This is about not new trade deals, but the ones we already have. One thing keeps cropping up in Brexit legislation: Parliament voting to give away its own power. This Bill is no different. We are not taking back control; we are transferring powers to Ministers, which is not a comfortable thing to do in a democracy.

As the House knows, the EU has about 60 separate trade deals with other countries. The Government assume that these agreements can be copied and pasted, just replacing the word “EU” with the word “UK”. Some countries, such as Japan, have indicated a willingness to accept such a deal. However, many countries appear determined to exploit the UK’s weaker negotiating position. Seven countries, including the USA, have already written to the UK to complain about how we will divide agricultural quotas with the EU after Brexit. It is unlikely that many trade deals can be copied and pasted. Therefore, it is vital that proper parliamentary scrutiny of replacement trade deals takes place.

It is ironic that the House of Commons Library has concluded that the UK Parliament has

“a considerably greater degree of democratic involvement in treaty negotiations”

for EU treaties than for UK ones. It has further concluded that this Bill

“seeks to minimise Parliament’s role”.

Democratic scrutiny will be diminished unless this Bill is amended.

That brings us back to the question: why? Why are we doing this? The only answer, which I have heard again and again, is that the people voted for it. Have they? Yes, the majority voted to leave the EU in 2016, but show me the people who voted in 2016 to leave the customs union and the single market. Not once was it mentioned on my doorsteps.

The only reason we are where we are now is that the Government have taken an unreasonable and ideological stance on the role of the European Court of Justice. The people did not vote for this. The Liberal Democrats want to stay in the single market and the customs union. We will vote against the Bill, and when the time comes for the Government to propose the terms of exit from the EU, we believe that the people must have the final say. The people must finish what the people have started.