Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Paul Blomfield and Guto Bebb

Monday 23rd April 2018 Commons Chamber

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

6. What the timetable is for the commissioning of the new Type 26 frigates.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Guto Bebb)]

The Secretary of State for Defence visited the Clyde last Thursday to witness the completion of the first Type 26 units. This unit will form part of the first ship, HMS Glasgow, which is due to be accepted by the summer of 2025. The Royal Navy will then train and prepare her and she will enter service in 2027. HMS Cardiff, HMS Belfast and the remaining five ships will then follow.

[Paul Blomfield]

The Minister will know that Sheffield companies have been key to the Royal Navy’s supply chain since we provided the tools to build wooden battleships such as HMS Victory. He will also know that there have been three HMS Sheffields, serving with distinction from the Arctic to the Mediterranean in the second world war, but the last was decommissioned in 2003. Does he agree that it would now be right to recognise the city’s contribution to the Navy by naming one of the Type 26 frigates, “HMS Sheffield”?

[Guto Bebb]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. Indeed, he has written on this issue to the Secretary of State. The process by which ships are named is understood by the hon. Gentleman, and I agree entirely that the city of Sheffield has every right to be considered as a potential city to be named after in terms of the Type 26s, but the process will be followed as per the usual manner.

EU-US Trade and Investment Agreement

Debate between Paul Blomfield and Guto Bebb

Thursday 18th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Paul Blomfield]

The Conservative party’s alliances when the hon. Gentleman was in the European Parliament were better than those it has made subsequently.

[Guto Bebb]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Paul Blomfield]

Let me make some progress, My point is that the Prime Minister did not understand that the more red meat he threw to those on his right, the more they would want. We find ourselves being pushed towards the exit door of the European Union at a time when the case for membership has never been stronger.

Let me turn to the trade deal and the comments made earlier by the hon. Member for Stone (Mr Cash), who sadly is no longer in his place, when he sought to diminish the importance of our trade with the European Union. The EU is the UK’s main trading partner and comprises around 52% of the UK’s total trade in goods and services. Of course growing markets in China and India are important, but those two markets account for 5.6% and 1.6% of our current trade. Through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Government estimate that 3.5 million jobs in Britain are linked, directly or indirectly, to our trade with EU member states.

Let us look to the future. It has been estimated that by 2020 the UK will have fallen to the ninth largest economy in the world. In contrast, the EU is the largest economy in the world, home to 7.4% of the world’s population and accounting for almost 20% of world GDP. The EU is not important to the UK simply for that reason, but also because of the access it provides to other markets. The EU is the top trading partner for 80 countries and currently has free trade agreements with more than 40. That process is continuing, and the EU is currently negotiating agreements with more than 70 countries, including important UK partners such as India and Japan, as well as growing economies such as Brazil. According to the CBI, the European Union has negotiated trade agreements that cover around 30% of trade outside the EU area, and it is in the process of raising that figure to 70%.

It has been estimated that the deal we are considering today will generate around €119 billion of benefits to the EU and create 2 million jobs. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne pointed out in his opening remarks, that could benefit the UK economy by up to £10 billion a year. My hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey) was right to point out that current tariffs averaging around 4% are quite low, but given the volume of trade, the benefits are significant. Even more significant—my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth and Dearne referred to this—is the alignment of regulatory standards and the opportunity that offers not only for trade between these two important blocs, but in raising standards internationally.

My right hon. Friend was also right to highlight concerns about the potential privatisation of public services—a threat that has been targeted wrongly at this deal. It is important that we reassure those who are worried about the impact of this deal on public services, and the health service in particular, which might disappoint some Conservative Members who would like to see much greater privatisation.

In the free trade agreements that the EU has negotiated, public services exemptions are provided in two ways: first, by provisions that refer to

“services exercised under Government authority”—

the police, for example, and the justice system—and, secondly, by provision for public utilities, which would cover health care. The former provisions are automatically excluded from all trade agreements. The latter are not automatically excluded but reservations are attached that allow EU member states to maintain public provision or limit access to a certain number of providers—both domestic and foreign—in those sectors.

It is important that we send a clear message that the EU-US trade agreement in itself cannot lead to further privatisation of health care in this country. The policies of this Government will do that—or perhaps not, if they are successfully defeated. The trade agreement could, however, lead to a significant boost to the UK economy. It would be the most significant bilateral agreement, and our combined economies are worth almost 40% of world GDP. We must be honest when responding to comments made by some Government Members who are no longer in their seats, and recognise where we stand internationally. The UK alone would not have the negotiating clout of the EU in striking the sort of deal that would benefit all member states, including the UK. As with so many other things, we are stronger together in Europe, and this deal is yet another reason why we must be at the centre of the European Union.