Comprehensive Economic Partnership (EUC Report)

Lord Liddle Excerpts

Thursday 26th November 2020 Grand Committee

[Lord Liddle (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, I, too, welcome the noble Lord, Lord Darroch, to the House of Lords. In my seven and a half years in Downing Street, I worked closely with him and, for me, he is in a long line of very distinguished diplomats who tried to make the best of Britain’s relationship with Europe. I was very interested to hear his comments about his early posting in Japan. The Japanese economic relationship with Britain is crucial, and I remember how, in the 1980s, a decade of industrial gloom, inward investment from Japan was a symbol of hope, particularly in the north-east, south Wales and other depressed areas. The noble Lord, Lord Kerr, is right to remind us that a lot of what lay behind that was our membership of the single market, which was then being born and being deepened. If there is a lesson of that history, it surely must be that the future success of our relationships in the Pacific, which will be very important—the doorway opened up to the Pacific partnership is very important—depends on us maintaining our close relationship with the European single market, which is still our biggest market.

What of the lessons of the present agreement? If I were being cynical about it—and I think this is how a European trade official would describe it—Japan has extracted a high price for what is effectively a continuity agreement. Eighty-three per cent of the increased trade is estimated to be on the Japanese side. That 83/17 balance is a pretty good result for the Japanese. This was a predictable result: we were the demandeur. There is a political need on the Government’s part, which I think they must be very wary of, to demonstrate that deals can be done and to claim that any deal is a great success. There is also the timing. It took forever to negotiate the EU-Japan deal—I think it started off when my noble friend Lord Mandelson was Trade Commissioner. This deal we achieved in four months, so it was never going to be a great advantage to us.

In future, we must be more strategic and less naive about trade. To again use a Brussels expression, we need to be much clearer about where our offensive interests lie in trade negotiations. What are we trying to achieve? Where are we going on digital issues? Where are we going on geographical indications? What is our aim in terms of attracting inward investment? We must have a clear strategic view of these questions rather than just ad hoc negotiation. The Government have not given enough attention to thinking about these issues strategically.

The other point, which is that of the committee’s report on the deal that we are discussing today, is that the quality of our debate about our future trade strategy depends on transparency from the Government—not secrecy, which is what we have had—about how the negotiations have gone. We need transparency and honesty. I see a crucial role for this House, because of our depth of expertise and the civilised way in which we conduct ourselves, in contributing to that public transparency, as the report from your Lordships’ committee has done. I very much hope that, in the review of our committee structures, which is ongoing today, we will continue to devote resources to such scrutiny because if we are not prepared to do it, I do not know who else will be.