Lord Watts
Main Page: Lord Watts (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Watts's debates with the Home Office
Steel Import Restrictions
Lord Watts Excerpts(1 week, 6 days ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Leong (Lab)
The noble Lord is absolutely right. We recall that the quota currently in place stands at 60%. For most countries, we have not achieved 60%: it is only when we exceed that 60% that that tariff of 50% comes in. Furthermore, we import most of our steel from the EU; 70% of our steel imports are from overseas and 60% from the EU, while India contributes only 5% of the market.
Lord Watts (Lab)
My Lords, when we had Brexit, we were informed that there were oven-ready schemes for trade. Where are they?
Lord Watts (Lab)
The question is: when we had Brexit, we were told by the supporters of Brexit that we had oven-ready trade deals, ready to go, and they would boost the economy. Where are those trade deals?
Lord Leong (Lab)
I thank my noble friend for that. We are making best use of where we are today as far as our position with Brexit is concerned. We are entering into free trade deals with many countries across the world; we have just signed the FTA with India and are in conversations with South Korea and Turkey, and we have completed a free trade deal with the GCC countries. Those are the benefits and dividends of Brexit.