Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of making the terms of any draft UK-India free-trade deal subject to a vote by the House of Commons.

The Government is committed to ensuring that Parliament can effectively scrutinise the UK’s trade deals. It is the Government’s view that to give Parliament binding votes over international agreements would fundamentally change the UK’s constitutional settlement and undermine the Government’s flexibility to negotiate deals that best serve the interests of UK businesses, consumers and communities.

The India trade agreement will be subject to pre-ratification scrutiny through the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act. Furthermore, any legislative changes required to give effect to the agreement will also be scrutinised and passed by Parliament in the usual way.