Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny Debate

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Department: Department for International Trade

Continuity Trade Agreements: Parliamentary Scrutiny

Theresa Villiers 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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My hon. Friend—it is good to have so many Stoke MPs here, from our Benches, asking questions—is quite right. The CPTPP represents a fantastic future for this country, and I hope that we are able to apply for formal accession in early 2021.

Theresa Villiers Portrait Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)
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Our SPS—sanitary and phytosanitary—rules are based firmly on human health concerns, but they can have important animal welfare benefits by barring the import of food produced according to controversial intensive farming methods that would be unlawful here. With that in mind, will the Minister confirm that our trade deals will retain the ban in this country on ractopamine in pork and bovine somatotropin in dairy produce?

Greg Hands Portrait Greg Hands
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I can confirm that on 1 January under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 all of those existing rules will be transferred over to the UK statute book, and those bans will be maintained, which fulfils the manifesto pledge made by my right hon. Friend and I both individually and collectively last December.