Trade Bill

Matt Western Excerpts

Tuesday 9th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington) (Lab)]

I am reminded that sometimes in life we have to be very careful what we wish for. Perhaps that is at the very core of the challenge facing the Government in delivering Brexit. They are not entirely sure what 52% of the public actually wanted. What did they seek to leave? Was it the single market or elements of the single market, and did they fully appreciate the implications of leaving the customs union? I did not, and I do not believe that most people did. Binary questions are wholly inappropriate, as my hon. Friend the Member for Swansea West (Geraint Davies) said.

I cannot support the Bill, for many reasons, despite the pressing importance of securing a framework for our future trading arrangements. I am a relatively new member of the International Trade Committee, and my overriding impression from the evidence we have heard is of just how complex our future trading agreements will become. These arrangements will take years to negotiate.

In this debate we have heard Members speak of agreeing terms with South Korea by way of example, but the international trade specialists and lawyers say that such trade deals will be possible only once Korea knows that we have completed our deals with all members of the European Union. Deals will be done by consequence. In so much of this debate the confident assertion is made that we will easily be able to transition across our agreements with Europe and establish free trade agreements, but I fear that there is a naivety about how this will work and the impact on our economy. The most important matter will be how the rules of origin are affected and the impact on UK trade, especially in sectors such as the automotive industry and aerospace, where complex supply chains currently operate so freely within Europe.

So the priority must be to remain within the European customs union or its body double. That is what the CBI and more specifically businesses such as Jaguar, Land Rover and National Grid want. They want it secured as soon as possible. As it stands, there are significant problems with the Bill. There is no framework for parliamentary scrutiny both of trade agreements and of agreements with those third countries via our current participation in EU trade deals, which will need to be rolled over.

Related to that, the Bill gives Ministers too great powers in relation to grandfathering agreements and the UK’s future trade policy. Compare and contrast how this works in Australia, where a cross-party committee handles and ratifies trade deals. Likewise in the US there must be a two-thirds majority in the Senate if a deal is to be approved. Perhaps we should look at something along the lines of the super-affirmative process as proposed by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Mr Leslie).

The Bill leaves no role in practice for Parliament in the scrutiny of trade deals, and that should worry every Member in the House, given the scope and depth that trade deals can cover—everything from trading relationships and environmental standards to consumer protections, so Parliament must be given a final vote on the grandfathering agreements. I believe that the immediate prosperity of this country lies in safeguarding its businesses and the foreign investment that we have enjoyed over many decades. The likes of Nissan, Toyota and Honda some 30 years ago gave us a central importance within the EU.

I strongly believe that we should remain in the customs union or some form of it. It should be the Government’s priority to achieve that. The Bill promises anything but, and certainly not the control promised at the time of the referendum. For so many reasons, I will be voting against the Bill.