European Union: Trade

Question

11:48:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the European Commission on securing better trade terms with the European Union, including through a possible customs union as suggested by Commissioner Šefčovič.

My Lords, the Government are committed to resetting our EU relationship, including by reducing barriers to trade. We will negotiate a veterinary sanitary and phytosanitary—SPS—agreement to prevent unnecessary border checks. We aim to secure mutual recognition for professional qualifications, and we will work to help our touring artists. We look forward to exploring these issues with the EU, but we have been clear that there will be no return to freedom of movement, the customs union or the single market.

I thank my noble friend for her Answer. Since I tabled this Question, we have had the Chancellor’s growth speech, which recommitted the Government to this reset of our relations. Does my noble friend agree that this is a means of lessening unnecessary barriers to trade, in a shorter timeframe than many big infrastructure projects, that would lead to better growth prospects and greater overseas-investor confidence in Britian and help the tens of thousands of SMEs that have ceased to trade with Europe because of the Brexit barriers? Does she also agree that, now that the new Conservative leader has said that Brexit was ill-planned, this presents an opportunity to overcome the blockers to a better trading arrangement?

I thank my noble friend for raising the comments made by the leader of the Opposition. I understand she has criticised her predecessors for mishandling Brexit, saying that leaving the EU without a growth plan was a “mistake”. I hope this means that we can work on a cross-party basis on these issues, because resetting our relationship with the EU will be key to delivering our plan for change and our plan for growth. The Chancellor has been clear that removing barriers to trade with the EU is critical to support growth and help our businesses. As the Chancellor said recently in her Mansion House speech, our biggest trading partner is the EU. We must recognise that our markets are highly interconnected and ensure that our approach to the EU reset supports growth and delivers investment for the economy.

My Lords, the Government have said on many occasions that they want to reset our relationship, and this Minister is no exception. Largely speaking, that means ruling things out as far as ruling things in. I understand that negotiating in detail in public is not a good practice. However, a good practice is telling your counterparty what you want. So far, there have been no specific demands or requests from the UK to Brussels. When will that start, and when will this reset actually happen?

The noble Lord makes an interesting point. We are not going to give a running commentary on negotiations.

I did not ask for that.

The noble Lord suggests that he did not ask for that. However, if we were to start putting demands in the media, I am not sure that is resetting the relationship with our European friends and neighbours; it sounds like more of the same that we saw from the previous Government.

My Lords, the Minister just told the House that there would be no return to freedom of movement. The Prime Minister is travelling to Brussels next week to meet with EU leaders. According to media reports this morning, they are going to ask him to agree to a new youth mobility scheme. Can the Minister say whether that is not a return to freedom of movement?

A youth mobility scheme is absolutely not a return to freedom of movement. If the noble Lord wishes to have a longer discussion about the youth mobility scheme, there will be a longer debate on this issue later today. We will obviously be looking at EU proposals on a range of issues, but there are no plans for a Europe-wide youth mobility scheme.

My Lords, will the Minister recognise that the remarks made by Commissioner Šefčovič do not involve the UK joining a customs union? They were about rules of origin, mainly for Mediterranean countries, of whom only one, Turkey, is in a customs union—the others are not. Will she therefore confirm that the Government will give urgent and positive consideration to this proposal?

The pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention is, as the noble Lord makes clear, not a customs union, nor is it an EU scheme. We are always looking at ways to reduce barriers to trade within our clear red lines, because having a smooth trading relationship with the EU is absolutely essential to driving growth at home. This is one of the options, and it is right and responsible that we are looking at it to determine what is in the UK’s national interest. But nothing has been agreed yet and, as ever, I am not going to give a running commentary on these talks.

My Lords, while I do not require the Minister to respond in song—wonderful though that might be—would she remember when she is in Brussels this week to focus very hard on the need for musicians and their instruments to be able to travel much more freely? Music is one of our most wonderful outcomes from the United Kingdom in the whole art field, and it is one that has been really damaged by the way in which movement is not allowed. That is hampering all sorts of things, not just the young. She can of course respond in song if she feels like it.

I genuinely think noble Lords would be very keen for me not to respond in song; they can all speculate on what type of song I would respond with. The question the noble Baroness raises around touring artists is a good one, and I look forward to talking about this in greater depth this afternoon.

My Lords, now that we have talked about the Second World War, it should remind us that the whole development of the EU, and the Common Market before it, was based on very close Franco-German co-operation and reconciliation. Now that that co-operation is not what it was, by any means, and that new forces are emerging in Europe, should we not work for new ideas and relations with our European neighbours? We certainly want good relations through the European Political Community organisation, where we have good status and standing, and where a number of completely new ideas, free of some of the old prejudices, are available and should be developed.

These two Questions I have been responding to today do have an element of similarity. I agree with the noble Lord that our relationships with Europe are related to trade but they also have to be related to security. We want to deepen co-operation within areas where the EU has unique capabilities, such as sanctions, countering disinformation, military mobilisation, and civilian crisis management and support—particularly to Ukraine. It is quite sobering to remember and recognise that, while we are talking about commemorating the Second World War, we do have war in Europe currently.

My Lords, can the Minister give a couple of economic arguments for why we would not want to be in a customs arrangement with the European Union?

We had an election, and this Government stood on not rejoining the customs union. We keep our promises as a party, and I make no apology for doing so.

Can the Minister tell your Lordships what involvement there is with the devolved Administrations? Are there consultations with them in relation to these discussions with the EU, since the outcome of those discussions will have a major impact on internal UK trade, not least because of the Windsor Framework?

In relation to the Windsor Framework, and with regard to Northern Ireland in particular, this Government are committed to delivering for the people of Northern Ireland and protecting trade flows. The noble Lord will be aware that my noble friend Lord Murphy is currently undertaking an independent review of the Windsor Framework to ensure that it is delivering for all communities in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

My Lords, may I endorse and support the remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, and say he will have considerable support from this side?

No!

My Lords, that concludes Oral Questions for today.