Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the letter sent by the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets to the House of Lords EU Internal Market Sub-Committee on 15 May which stated that the “UK’s position on subsidies for the trade agreement negotiations with the EU … does not necessarily require a domestic regulator”, whether they could provide state aid or subsidies to any UK company without any independent UK scrutiny or enforcement; and if so, what assessment they have made of the impact on the wider UK business sector of any uncertainty about the rules and criteria used to decide which companies can receive such support.

The Government has been clear that, after the end of the transition period, the UK will have its own domestic subsidy control regime. This will not align with EU State Aid rules. Work is ongoing to devise a modern system for supporting British business in a way that fulfils our interests. As part of this, consideration will be given on how to ensure compliance with the new regime. There are a number of possible options , of which an independent regulator is one. We will discuss these options with key stakeholders in due course..

However, as the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Labour Markets has previously set out, the UK’s position on subsidies for the trade agreement negotiations with the EU does not necessarily require a domestic regulator (as demonstrated by other countries, like Canada, that do not maintain a domestic subsidy control regulator to fulfil their trade agreement obligations with the EU).

The Government recognises the importance of providing clarity to businesses. In advance of the introducing the domestic subsidy control regime, we will be seeking the views of business on the best approach to ensure we continue to have fair and open competition across the UK.