Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of excluding the investor-state dispute settlement mechanism from the UK-Australia trade agreement.

The precise details of a free trade agreement with Australia are a matter for formal negotiations, and the Government would not seek to pre-empt these discussions.

If it is deemed that a legal mechanism is appropriate for resolving investment disputes, the mechanism will reflect modern practice, deliver fair outcomes of claims, require high ethical standards for arbitrators and include transparent proceedings.

There has never been a successful Investor State Dispute Settlement claim against the United Kingdom, nor has the threat of potential claims affected its legislation.