Asked by Baroness McIntosh of Pickering To ask Her Majesty’s
Government what assessment they have made of the implications for
business of a short transition period as part of the United
Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. The Minister
of State, Department for Exiting the European Union (Lord Callanan)
(Con) My Lords,...Request free
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Asked by
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The Minister of State, Department for Exiting the European
Union (Lord Callanan) (Con)
My Lords, we have agreed a time-limited implementation
period where businesses in the UK and the EU will continue
to access each other’s markets on current terms and will
ensure that they have to make only one set of changes. That
is what business has been asking for, and that is exactly
what it is getting. We are working at pace to ensure that
all the necessary arrangements are in place for 31 December
2020.
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(Con)
My Lords, my question actually related to the end of the
transition period, which has been brought forward by three
months. Will my noble friend commit the Government to
keeping under constant review the state of preparedness of
government departments and agencies, such as the Food
Standards Agency and others, to ensure that all regulations
will be in place? Assuming that the Government do not wish
to be part of a customs arrangement with the EU, what will
happen on the vexed question of rules of origin for
industries such as the food industry, the car industry and
other manufacturing industries that rely so much on
imported goods?
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I thank my noble friend for her question, but of course we
want to be part of a customs arrangement with the EU. That
is one of the matters that we will need to discuss with it.
I can agree with her that the department keeps all the
necessary arrangements under constant review, and we will
do so throughout the implementation period to make sure
that everything is in place for the end of that period on
31 December 2020.
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(LD)
My Lords, every time I have heard or read a briefing from
business over the past 18 months, it has talked about the
need for certainty so that business can invest for the long
term. By the long term, business means five years, not two.
It seems to many of us that the Government are in danger of
allowing a transition period to be used to put off telling
business what the future arrangements will be for another
20 months. Can the Government assure us that by this
October they will be able to give business detailed
assurances about the sorts of future arrangements we are
likely to have for trade and investment with the EU at the
end of the transition period?
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We have said that we want to get the withdrawal agreement
bottomed out and agreed by October and that we also want to
agree future partnerships in as much detail as possible to
provide that certainty. I accept the noble Lord’s point
that this is a time of uncertainty. We are working at pace
to try to provide that certainty.
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(Lab)
My Lords, can the Minister explain why any country in the
world would want to do a better trade deal with a country
with a population of 50 million when it would have a chance
of getting a better deal with the rest of Europe, which has
a population of 500 million?
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The problem with the EU negotiating trade deals is that it
does it on behalf of 28 countries, shortly to become 27,
which all have different priorities and different things that
they want to agree within that deal, and of course that makes
them difficult to agree for the bloc as a whole. As a country
that believes in free trade, we will be able to do it in a
swifter and more efficient manner.
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(LD)
My Lords—
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Noble Lords
Cross Benches!
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(CB)
Would the Minister see merit in the implementation period
having two elements—first, a bridging period to cover the
time between exit and when the agreement is ratified and
becomes unconditional, and, secondly, an adaptation period,
starting on the expiry of the bridging period? This would
enable businesses to be clearer and to adapt to whatever is
finally agreed.
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We set out in the agreement that we reached with the EU how
we see the implementation period working, which is pretty
much to maintain the existing arrangements in place to
provide certainty for businesses.
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of Kentish Town
(Lab)
My Lords, I would like to talk about the transition period.
We now understand that we are coming out of all the agencies
in March, so we will be out of the European Medicines Agency
in March. What is the attitude of the pharmaceutical industry
to that decision?
-
The noble Baroness makes a good point. We are continuing the
discussions with the EU to see what the precise formulation
of our involvement in the various agencies will be. We are
clear that we want to remain involved and participate in the
work of those agencies, which are so essential for many
businesses in the UK, but we are currently discussing how
precisely that will work during the implementation period.
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My Lords, the Government were looking for a two-year
transition period, which they themselves said was a short
period of time.
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Noble Lords
Conservatives!
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(Con)
My Lords, could my noble friend reassure us that the
Government are listening to British business concerns about
how long it will take to make new agreements on the rules of
origin if we do not remain in a customs union with the EU,
particularly as that will affect the food and automobile
industries?
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We have undertaken extensive consultations with industry and
businesses. We are doing it all the time. I do it myself. We
have undertaken more than 500 recorded DExEU organised
engagements with businesses and civil society to find out
what the concerns of businesses are. We are of course taking
the feedback that we have received from them to the
negotiations with the EU.
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My Lords, I shall have my third attempt, and I thank the
House for letting me. The Government were looking for a
two-year transition deal, which they themselves understood
was short. The EU said “21 months, that’s it”, and we just
said yes. Why was that? Was that not selling out Britain and
British industry?
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No, I do not think it was. The Prime Minister made it clear
that she was looking at an implementation period of around
two years, which of course even the Liberal Democrats will
know is 24 months. We eventually agreed that 21 months would
be the period. We did not think that three months was a huge
difference. These things are of course always subject to
negotiations. We had to reach agreement, and we did. It is
important that the implementation period is time-limited, and
31 December 2020 is a good time to end it because that is the
end of the current multiannual financial framework.
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