Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether the Government has had recent discussions with the other contracting parties to the European Economic Area Agreement on the provisions of Article 127 of that Agreement.

Our legal position is that Article 127 does not need to be triggered for the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement to cease to have effect. This is because the EEA Agreement only applies to the UK in its capacity as an EU Member State. Therefore, in the absence of any further action, the EEA Agreement will no longer operate in respect of the UK when we leave the EU.

We have regular discussions with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein on all aspects of our withdrawal from the EU. The Government informed Parliament on the 20th December about the agreement reached with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein to resolve the issues arising with those countries as a result of the UK’s departure from the EU.