Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what measures his Department has put in place to ensure that Scotland is represented during negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Prime Minister will ensure that we negotiate the best possible future for the United Kingdom, representing the interests of all of its constituent parts.
We have established a subcommittee of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) on EU Negotiations, known as JMC(EN), to take forward work with the devolved administrations, including discussing issues stemming from the negotiation process which may impact upon or have consequences for the UK Government, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government or the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what measures his Department has put in place to ensure that Gibraltar is represented during negotiations on the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Robin Walker
The UK Government has made clear that it intends to fully involve Gibraltar as we prepare for exit from the EU, to ensure Gibraltar’s interests are properly taken into account.
I have been closely involved in considering Gibraltar’s priorities from the start of the EU exit process. On 20 July, my first debate in my role as a minister at the Department for Exiting the European Union was a Westminster Hall debate on the EU Referendum and Gibraltar (https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-07-20/debates/16072020000001/EUReferendumGibraltar).
The Secretary of State for Exiting the EU and I met the Gibraltar Chief Minister on 12 September 2016 and I held a meeting with the Chief Minister and representatives of Gibraltar industry and trade unions on 1 November.
At a multilateral level, Minister for the Overseas Territories, Baroness Anelay and I met with leaders of the Overseas Territories on 2 November 2016 at the UK-Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. We committed to taking forward future engagement through the creation of the UK – Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council on European Negotiations (JMC – OT EN), to meet in February.
I chaired the first meeting of the UK-Gibraltar Ministerial Forum on EU Exit took place on 7 December 2016, with Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers taking part alongside the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Gibraltar.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with the Government of Gibraltar on the potential effect of leaving the EU on relations between Gibraltar and Spain.
Answered by Robin Walker
The UK Government has made clear that it intends to fully involve Gibraltar as we prepare for exit from the EU, to ensure Gibraltar’s interests are properly taken into account.
As noted in the Government’s recent White Paper (The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union), we have established a Joint Ministerial Council (Gibraltar EU Negotiations) with the Government of Gibraltar, which met for the first time on 7 December 2016. Department for Exiting the EU and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers took part alongside the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Gibraltar. Ministers from the Department for Exiting the European Union have met several times with the Chief Minister and other Gibraltarian stakeholders.
I gave both written and oral evidence to the Lords EU Select Committee’s inquiry into Gibraltar and the UK’s EU Exit on 25 January.