Compliance with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019 Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Exiting the European Union
Greg Hands
Main Page: Greg Hands (Conservative - Chelsea and Fulham)Department Debates - View all Greg Hands's debates with the Department for Exiting the European Union
Compliance with the European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019
Greg Hands Excerpts(4 years, 7 months ago)
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James Duddridge
The Government will take legal advice on this and a number of other issues. As the right hon. Lady knows, there is a long-standing constitutional convention that neither the fact nor the content of Law Officers’ advice is disclosed outside the Government without their consent, and I am not intending to break that convention today.
Greg Hands (Chelsea and Fulham) (Con)
I am delighted to hear again of the Government’s commitment to getting a deal, which is actually what this House ought to be debating in the coming weeks. Will the Minister tell us a little more precisely how the passage of this Act has made the negotiations and discussions in Brussels more difficult?
James Duddridge
There was a big shift in the negotiations when the Prime Minister met Macron and Merkel, and that has really opened up the dialogue with the Prime Minister’s sherpa, who has been travelling twice, then three times a week, including to meetings at the United Nations General Assembly and several other forums. That activity has potentially slowed as a result of the House of Commons position. What the House of Commons has done makes a deal more difficult, and no deal, which is not what we want, more likely.