Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny Debate

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Department: Department for International Trade

Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Jack Brereton Excerpts
Tuesday 17th November 2020

(3 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Greg Hands Portrait Greg Hands
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I think the hon. Member’s phrase was “abject ministerial failure”. We are working hard to roll over all these agreements. I just remind him that these are all agreements that were opposed by the SNP in the first place. It abstained on EU-Japan and EU-Singapore, and it was against EU-Canada, against EU-South Africa and against EU-Korea. He ought to be celebrating the fact that these agreements are not being rolled over, to be consistent with his previous position. We are working hard to make sure that they are rolled over.

Jack Brereton Portrait Jack Brereton (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Con)
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Does my right hon. Friend agree that we should continue to follow the significant headway we have been making on a number of these trade agreements, and that we should help great British businesses, such as those in Stoke-on-Trent, to grow jobs by making the most of these agreements?

Greg Hands Portrait Greg Hands
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My hon. Friend is quite right. Both the Secretary of State and I have enjoyed meeting businesses in his constituency—particularly those in ceramics—and right the way across the city of Stoke. We have them on our minds in all our trade negotiations, to ensure that we get new opportunities for the ceramics industry in the Potteries and elsewhere.