EU Exit: End of Transition Period

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Thursday 24th September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, as my noble friend knows, there are continuing discussions in relation to Northern Ireland, but we are taking all available steps to support trade readiness in Northern Ireland, including establishing a new and unprecedented trader support service. That is backed by funding of up to £200 million and will provide end-to-end support for businesses engaged in new processes. The importance of the state of Northern Ireland within our union and customs territory is undoubted.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, transport and trade depend on GPS. Yesterday, I asked the Minister what preparations were being made for our continuing involvement in Galileo, given that the country has now abandoned its hare-brained scheme to try to create its own system. His response was that

“the EU’s offer on Galileo did not meet the UK’s defence and industrial requirements.”—[Official Report, 23/9/20; GC 554.]

Therefore, can he tell us what will meet those requirements and whether it will be in place at the end of the transition period?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, I can only repeat the answer that I gave yesterday, which the noble Baroness very kindly read out. The Government believe that the infrastructure and IT systems that are put in place will meet the needs of this nation.

EU: Future Relationship

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd September 2020 Grand Committee

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, when he was electioneering back in December last year, the Prime Minister promised that:

“We have an oven ready deal, put it in the microwave as soon as we get back after the election on Friday 12th December and get it done.”


I know that rash promises are sometimes made before elections—indeed, they are sometimes made after elections; the “world-beating” test and trace system comes to mind—but today, we are discussing the UK’s approach to negotiations with the EU. Can the Minister say what the Government’s approach to that oven-ready deal has been? Did it ever exist? The withdrawal agreement was a framework, though not a perfect one, that is now being torn up, but the oven-ready deal that electioneering led people to expect is not in sight. The Government’s preparations for leaving the EU are about as close to oven-ready as the turkey that has just been hatched.

Others, most notably the noble Lord, Lord Judd, reminded us that the EU is about far more than trade. I accept that we have left the EU; now what we need is a good deal. Trade deals are never easy to negotiate but it is clear that a deal with the EU is what we need most. In 2018, 49% of our trade was with the EU. It is potentially great news that we have concluded a trade deal with Japan, but Japan accounts for just 2% of our trade and we do not yet know the details of that deal. There are questions over quite what we have given up, particularly on state aid. I find it incomprehensible that a Conservative Government should be prepared to risk our future relationship with our major trading partner over the issue of state aid. I would be grateful if the Minister could tell the House what state aid the Government are so desperate to provide that they are prepared to sacrifice such a crucial relationship.

As the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, pointed out earlier, we learned this week that if we leave without a deal there could be 7,000 trucks piling up outside Dover, causing chaos and delaying deliveries by up to two days. It seems now that there is even to be a border around Kent. Michael Gove said this afternoon in the Commons that there would be a “Kent permit” for all lorries that needed to enter the county and without such a permit they would not be allowed in. Last week we learned that Logistics UK—formerly the Freight Transport Association—was told that the Government’s smart freight system, designed to reduce the risk of cargo delays, would still be in “testing mode” in January. Well, at least it has been traced.

It turns out that life outside the EU is harder to organise than this Government appear to have imagined. Their gung-ho talk is just that—delivery is the problem. Being a member of the EU brought numerous benefits beyond the smoothly flowing travel of goods and people. Take GPS, now such a crucial part of modern life. The Galileo system, of which we were beneficiaries through our EU membership, worked efficiently but the Government did not want any part of Galileo. We would go it alone. Earlier this year, this gung-ho Government spent £900 million on buying 45% of OneWeb, a bankrupt US tech company, which had attempted to build a constellation of 650 satellites. This was to be the basis for our very own GPS system. Just months later, that project is being abandoned.

Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the House of Commons Defence Committee, dismissed the scheme as a “vanity project”. It takes vanity on a monstrous scale to blow what adds up to more than £1 billion on feeding it. However, it is not merely the waste of public money that is appalling, it is the risks that a lack of such a system causes. According to Mr Ellwood, if we do not have the back-up of Galileo we are going to have problems. We will be extremely vulnerable from a security point of view. In the continuing negotiations with the EU, will access to Galileo be included?

This afternoon, the president of the CBI, the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, spoke eloquently of the need for business to have a deal. He explained that Covid had wrought havoc on our companies. It has eaten into their cash resources, if they had any, and into their material stockpiles. Companies have struggled to get through the last six months, but this week brought the news that restrictions could last another six months. An avalanche of redundancies looms. Is this the time to embark on what even the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes, accepts will be an uncomfortable process?

This afternoon Michael Gove told the Commons that there might be a few bumps in the road. I was delighted to see the noble Lord, Lord Rooker, back in fighting form and even more pleased to have listened to what he had to say. If only our Prime Minister would read that speech in Brussels next month. Extending the transition period is the sensible thing to do, but this gung-ho Government do not do sensible. Michael Gove stated this afternoon that 24% of businesses believe that they are ready for 31 December, and acknowledged that flows across the critical short strait crossings could be reduced by 60% to 80%. Nevertheless, an extension of the transition period will not be contemplated. In a pre-Covid era, it would be mad to press on in such circumstances. As the country struggles to cope with Covid, it is simply incomprehensible.

Equivalence Determinations for Financial Services (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd September 2020 Grand Committee

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I refer to my role as a director of a financial services company, as listed in the register.

We all know the importance of financial services to our economy: it is the highest exporting sector that we have. However, as this legislation indicates, we risk jeopardising its success. There is no denying the need for this legislation, but we are already into September: if a comprehensive deal is not agreed soon with the EU—and the omens do not look good—then the financial services industry risks being badly damaged.

I listened to the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard, talk about how much we could innovate and so on if we were free of EU regulations. But innovation in financial services is rarely a benefit; in fact, I am hard-pressed to think of an innovation since the invention of the hole-in-the-wall that has actually been beneficial.

Equivalence in regulation is imperative for trade with the EU to continue, and recognition of that equivalence has to be in place for transactions to continue. The Minister sounded confident that that will be the case within the required timescale. Can he explain why he is so confident that equivalence will be granted in the EU?

The political declaration sounded optimistic about the prospects for equivalence, with the implicit intention that cross-border service provision would continue. But can we now be assured that this is a view shared by both parties? The direction that the negotiations have been taking appears to be diverging somewhat drastically, and certainly progress is not being made.

More specifically, do the UK regulators have the capacity required to make the decisions on equivalence that they will be asked to make? Has a decision been taken on the level of charges that they can implement and whether this will be sufficient to cover the extra costs involved?

Finally, I point out that one of the major assets of the UK financial services sector will not be impacted at all by any success on the equivalence front: the supply of talented Europeans who have played such an important part in making a success of the financial services industry in the UK. They have already been leaving in large numbers, and it is highly unlikely that they will return once freedom of movement has been turned off. The UK has been a star in the global financial services market; we are now deliberately risking dimming that star.

EU: Non-financial Services

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd September 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, the Government are committed to protecting IP to a very high level and are proposing a chapter in the free trade agreement based on precedence to reflect this. Both the EU and the United Kingdom are IP-intensive economies and we need to make progress. My noble friend is right in relation to rights of representation that flow from the single market, and I assure her that these issues are currently very much in the mind of the Government.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, what revenue does the Treasury receive from non-financial services and, in the event of no deal, how does it propose to replace that revenue?

[Lord True (Con)]

My Lords, I do not have in my brief the precise figure that the noble Baroness has asked for, so, as I promised earlier in relation to another question, I will write to her with that. The Government’s overall objective is to sustain, develop and increase the viability of our magnificent non-financial services and creative services.

Finance Bill

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

2nd reading & Committee negatived & 3rd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Friday 17th July 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, the Chancellor has responded to the Covid crisis with unprecedented cash handouts. Some are clearly well judged, the furlough scheme most obviously. Others, however, look off target. When the head of HMRC, Jim Harra, questions the wisdom of measures, it would surely be wise to pay attention, yet the Government took the rare step of issuing a statement to HMRC, insisting that it should go ahead with implementing two measures of highly dubious worth.

The first is a bonus scheme to reward employers for doing what they were probably going to do all along: taking back some staff who have been on furlough. The second is a £10 bribe to eat out. Do people really seem likely to respond by going out to eat because of a £10 bribe when they were frightened to go into restaurants beforehand? I doubt it.

I also question the wisdom of the changes to stamp duty, as have others: £3.8 billion is a large amount to spend to encourage people to move house when our major problem is the shortage of housing. It seems slightly weird to bribe people to buy second homes or to swap their second homes when too many people in this country do not have a home of their own. I thought we were going to use this opportunity to build infrastructure and invest in our capital, but that is not happening with the changes to stamp duty.

Others have remarked on the mixed messages coming from government on distancing and whether people should be going to the office, and I echo that. It is not helpful when the Prime Minister and the Chief Medical Officer are giving completely opposite advice to the public.

How much more confused will the public be when, in just a few months, Britain finally severs its relationship with the EU, and business has to cope with an onslaught of new form-filling and costs? Even the Trade Secretary has raised doubts about the preparedness of the UK’s ports to cope with the new regime that will dawn at the beginning of next year. We may need a job creation scheme, but 500 new members of the Border Force is a very unhelpful way of creating new jobs. Who is going to pay for these new jobs when the economy takes yet another hit? Brexit is an unnecessary onslaught on top of Covid. Can the Minister tell me that he really believes that it is the right time for such a drastic move?

Covid-19: Scientific Advice

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Wednesday 17th June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord True [V]]

My Lords, I could not catch all the details of the noble Lord’s question. I apologise on the record to him for not answering fully a previous question he asked. If he does not mind, I will write to him on the subject. I remind the House, having caught enough of his question, that this was an evolving crisis and the Government have done a great deal to procure and deliver testing—now over 200,000 a day—and provide places in hospital beds.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, a SAGE paper of 11 February made it clear that stopping large gatherings and, more particularly, the closure of pubs, nightclubs and similar venues would slow the spread of the infection. That did not happen for more than another six weeks. Can the noble Lord tell the House whether that advice was not acted on immediately as a result of putting it before focus groups? Can he say how many elements of SAGE advice have been subject to focus groups before being adopted, or not adopted?

[Lord True [V]]

My Lords, I cannot answer on focus groups; the focus group I care about is Parliament and responding to it. The advice from SPI-M-O on public gatherings was actually rather more equivocal than the noble Baroness suggests. However, the policy evolved and many of those who follow the public press conferences will remember the Deputy Chief Medical Officer talking about a number of the different factors involved. It is important to recall what stage of the crisis we are talking about: 11 February, when there were eight confirmed cases.

Beyond Brexit (European Union Committee Report)

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Tuesday 12th May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, for this excellent report. Reading it provides a clear reminder of how intertwined the UK is with the EU. After more than 40 years of membership, that is not surprising, but the report is also a reminder of how many issues have to be settled if our final split from the 27 is to be relatively smooth.

The political declaration refers to three overarching areas where agreement is necessary: the economic partnership, the security partnership and the institutional arrangements. Achieving agreement on all that by the end of this year was never going to be easy but Covid-19 has rendered it virtually impossible. Governments have had to give their full attention to a single priority—tackling the virus—but even if the current fragmentary negotiations could produce a consensus, business simply will not be able to cope with the radical changes that final departure must bring.

The UK is no longer a member of the EU—that is not up for debate—but we need to remain in lockstep for a little while longer. Business cannot cope with sorting out the effects of the virus while simultaneously preparing for a new, but as yet unknown, relationship with the EU. The transition period must be extended, as many noble Lords have said; the sooner that happens, the better for business. The Government have said that they will not ask for an extension, in part because business needs the certainty of the December deadline. That is simply nonsense. There is no certainty in a departure into the unknown. The EU 27 share the pressures that a December rupture would create. An extension is in their interests too. If we wish to remain friends with the EU, let alone retain influence in it, a request for an extension must happen immediately. In the light of the changes wrought by Covid, why do the Government refuse to contemplate an extension?

European Union: Negotiations (European Union Committee Report)

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Monday 16th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, because as I listened to the speeches this afternoon, I have been amazed by the determined intention to keep calm and carry on. I admire a degree of sanguinity, but it seems to me that this is not the time to display it. I was delighted to hear the noble Lord, Lord Lea of Crondall. It is true that he does not always keep calm and carry on, and this afternoon he most certainly was not. I do not think that we should and I do not intend to. As the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, has said, we are in an extraordinary time. The Prime Minister’s broadcast this afternoon has made that clear. The stock market could not make it clearer: it is now lower than it has been since 2011 and who knows where it is going. That is people’s pensions and their futures.

When the referendum took place, coronavirus was unheard of. When the general election took place in December, it was not in sight; indeed, had it been, that election might not have taken place. Let me reassure the noble Lord, Lord Hamilton of Epsom, that I will not dwell on what might have been: we have left the EU. What is now to be determined is the future relationship. I support the amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter—that Parliament should have appropriate scrutiny of those negotiations—and the Motion in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, whose committee’s report highlights the fact that it will be more difficult to negotiate a deal now that the parties, particularly our Government, have moved so much further away from a political declaration.

Right now, the 27 countries of the EU have a far more pressing concern than their future relationship with the UK. They are trying to protect their public, their country and their economy from the ravages of this virus. Our Government, in their own way, are doing the same. This will be the case for many months. This does not seem to be the background against which to insist on a timetable for negotiations, which was always seen as demanding. The Command Paper states:

“The Government will not extend the transition period provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement. This leaves a limited, but sufficient, time for the UK and the EU to reach agreement.”


It may have been a limited, but sufficient, time back at the beginning of the year, but it is certainly not so now. Given how the UK has moved away from the political declaration, that timetable looks even more optimistic now than it did then—and that was before the virus hit. The Government’s priority now must be to concentrate all their efforts on protecting the people, the country and the economy from the previously unforeseen threat of the virus. Just as the Government have asked industry to turn its efforts to creating more vital appliances for our hospitals, so Ministers must redirect their efforts to looking to the country’s future under this virus.

I have just one question for the Minister: can he categorically assure the House that, in the Government’s efforts to cope with the virus, absolutely nothing will be off the table, including considering asking for an extension to the transition period? If that will help the country and the rest of the EU through this extraordinarily difficult period, the Government absolutely should do it. The EU and the UK now have a common enemy; it is, as the noble Lord, Lord Lea, put it, the elephant in the room. It would be unforgivable for many future generations if this Government, in pursuit of an ideological Brexit, were allowed to distract themselves and the countries of the EU in any way from what is now truly a life-or-death battle.

Online Material: Identification of Promoters

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Thursday 7th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I am sorry that my noble friend was distressed by some communications during the recent local government elections, but the Law Commission is reviewing online abusive communication, and analysis of that will be published by the end of the year, with recommendations to follow. There are also other initiatives on online safety, with the Internet Safety Strategy Green Paper last year and a White Paper to come later this year. If my noble friend’s communication was on paper and related to the recently held elections, I think that the Electoral Commission would be interested to see a copy of it.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Con)]

My Lords, it is clear that propaganda from Russia flooded social media during the EU referendum, as it did during the US election. Can my noble friend tell the House how he proposes to put an imprint on that?

[Lord Young of Cookham]

That is a challenging question which will be addressed in the forthcoming consultation. On fake news, tackling disinformation is a key pillar of the digital charter. I have seen no evidence of successful intervention in our democratic process, but the Government are not complacent and are engaging with the social media platforms to make further progress.

European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Baroness Wheatcroft Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wheatcroft (Con)]

My Lords, this House knows what is expected of it. I trust that we will not cower at the lurid threats of tumbrils at the gate voiced by my noble novelist friend Lord Dobbs. We have a duty to perform, summarised on Parliament’s own website, which declares our role to be:

“Checking and shaping draft laws and challenging the work of Government”.


As many noble Lords have already said today, in this instance the work of government really needs challenging.

The Bill is not merely the “cut and paste” of EU law that it has been portrayed as. It changes the balance of power between the UK Parliament and the devolved Administrations; it confers sweeping, wildly undemocratic power on Ministers; and, in Clause 9, it makes provision for “implementing the withdrawal agreement”. Given its implications, we would be failing the country if we did not challenge the Bill’s imperfections. To let fear for our own future prevent us would be self-interested cowardice, not constitutional propriety. My noble friend Lord Dobbs quoted Sir Winston Churchill; two can play at that game. I remind the House that it was Churchill who said that our task was,

“to re-create the European Family, or as much of it as we can, and provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom”.

We risk throwing away his legacy.

We are told that the Bill brings business the certainty it craves. It does not. It gives no clarity on where the country is headed after Brexit. Business is clear that it wants to remain in the single market and the customs union. Here I declare my interests as listed in the register. Business knows what the Government are failing to tell the country but BuzzFeed helpfully did this morning: under any scenario other than staying in the single market and the customs union, coming out of the EU will make Britain significantly poorer. As others have said today, Britain did not vote for that.

By the Government’s own reckoning, there are 132,000 companies in the UK that export only to the EU. Far from being the bureaucratic nightmare we keep hearing about, the single market actually works. We will pay a high price for leaving. The Government could assure business now that they are intent on preserving the benign trading environment we enjoy for goods and the all-important services—the arrangement that has produced such prosperity. Instead, all we are promised is a transition deal—but to what? We leave the EU to enter limbo land, while we try to hammer out a deal with no negotiating power. We stride out on to what my noble friend Lord Bridges called,

“a gangplank into thin air”.

Parliament needs to be told, and soon, just what the Government are aiming to achieve, and in terms much more specific than the “deep and special relationship” we hear so much about. That is what we have now. Hope does not equate to policy. To extend the Article 50 process while we negotiate a deal, rather than walking off that gangplank, might be a great deal more sensible.

Ministers must also scrape away the fudge that was so liberally ladled over the issue of Ireland. My noble friend Lord Empey accepts that the issue is “difficult”, albeit he thinks those difficulties minor. But I can see no way of providing Ireland with the borderless, frictionless trade that has been promised other than the UK remaining in the single market and the customs union. If the Minister has found one, perhaps he could spell it out. To a simple soul like me, trade between an EU member state and the independent UK cannot continue post Brexit without a border. Again, hope does not equate to a policy. We need details.

Finally, I join with those who believe that before this country takes the momentous step of leaving the EU, it may be that the people will need to have their say on the terms that are on offer. Opinion polls already show that a significant majority favour such a vote. While I share the view of my noble friend Lord Patten of Barnes that referenda should be avoided, I suspect that if a referendum got you into this mess, the only way out may be another referendum. This may not be the Bill which mandates such a vote, but the time may well come when it is inevitable. The government position seems to be that we have made our bed and we will jolly well lie in it; no matter how uncomfortable this turns out to be, we must get on with it. I find that somewhat perverse, and I suspect the majority of voters would too: let us find a better bed.