Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she plans to work with the Leader of the House to bring any proposed trade deal with Australia to the House to be scrutinised before it is signed.

The Government has put a suite of enhanced scrutiny arrangements in place to allow for appropriate scrutiny by Parliament. This includes:

• publishing negotiating objectives and economic scoping assessments before starting negotiations;
• regular statements to Parliament;

At the conclusion of negotiations, there will be opportunity for scrutiny of the final deal, including time for the relevant Select Committees and the Trade and Agriculture Commission to produce their reports on the deal. Parliament can resolve against ratification of a treaty under the scrutiny processes set out under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Any legislative changes required to give effect to the free trade agreement will need to be scrutinised and passed by Parliament in the usual way before ratification of the agreement can take place.