Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) animal welfare and (b) environmental standards in egg production are maintained after the UK leave the EU.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The Government shares the British public’s high regard for the environment and for animal welfare, and our current high environmental and welfare standards in egg production will continue to apply when we leave the EU. High standards and high quality are what our domestic and global customers demand, and that is what we will provide.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if he will reassess the potential merits of adding imports of eggs and egg products to the tariffs list.
Answered by George Hollingbery
It remains the Government’s priority to leave the EU with an agreement. If the UK leaves the EU with an agreement, the UK will enter the implementation period during which eggs and eggs products from the EU will be still subject to tariff-free access.
If the UK leaves the EU without an agreement, the UK would implement a temporary tariff regime, which was announced on March 13th 2019. The temporary tariff is a balanced tariff policy which aims to minimise costs to business and mitigate price impacts on consumers, while also supporting UK producers as far as possible.
Government will continue to listen to stakeholder feedback regarding the temporary tariff, and have committed to holding a public consultation on the UK’s permanent MFN tariff policy. We welcome feedback from the egg sector to help us shape the permanent MFN policy.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the announcement, UK and Israel sign trade continuity agreement, published by his Department on 18 February 2019, whether the provisions of that agreement will extend to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Answered by George Hollingbery
The UK and Israel have a strong and important trading relationship. However, we do not recognise the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including the settlements, as part of Israel. We sought to ensure continuity in our trading relationship, not to renegotiate terms. The OPTs are not covered by the current EU-Israel Trade Agreements, nor by the UK-Israel Agreement.
On 18th February 2019, we also signed an agreement with the Palestinian Authority, which transitions the current EU Interim Association Agreement.
The agreements have now been laid in Parliament and published on gov.uk, alongside a full report.
Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in Australia on increasing the quota of lamb exports to the UK in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
Answered by George Hollingbery
Neither the Secretary of State for International Trade nor his officials have discussed with their Australian counterparts the increasing of an Australian lamb quota in the event of a no deal.