Asked by
Lord Lilley
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what announcements the European
Union has made regarding continuity arrangements for (1) air
travel, (2) haulage, (3) visas, and (4) safety certificates,
should the United Kingdom leave the European Union without a
deal; and what steps they have taken to give reciprocal
assurances.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Transport (Baroness Vere of Norbiton) (Con)
My Lords, the EU has adopted time-limited regulations covering
the aviation market access and safety certificates, as well as
road haulage and international rail. The EU has also announced
visa-free travel for UK nationals travelling to the EU for short
stays after exit. The Government have given reciprocal assurances
in each of these four areas, which will provide certainty to
businesses and citizens should the UK leave the EU without a
deal.
Lord Lilley (Con)
I thank my noble friend for her reply. Since Britain may well
leave the EU with no withdrawal agreement, is it not reassuring
that these reciprocal mini-deals, and many others, mean that
planes will fly, hauliers will operate, Airbus wings will be
exported and visa-free travel will continue? Will she also
confirm that HMRC plans no extra checks at Dover and will
prioritise flow over compliance, while France is so determined
not to lose trade to Belgian and Dutch ports that it has
installed multiple extra lorry lanes at Calais, located
inspection points away from the ports and installed equipment to
scan moving trains, so that the likelihood of congestion and
delays has vastly diminished, to the obvious disappointment of
the Liberal Democrat Benches?
The noble Lord is right in that the mini-deals make any potential
exit from the EU without a deal less difficult. But they are, as
I have said, time-limited and there will need to be further
negotiations when they expire. With regard to Dover, the
Government are working to enable cross-channel traffic and goods
to continue to move as freely as possible. Government departments
have designed customs and additional control arrangements at the
UK border, in a way which ensures that goods will be able to flow
into and out of the country, and will not be delayed by
additional controls. It is true that on the other side of the
channel, the French customs authorities have pulled their finger
out and installed additional control points. These mean that
delays on this side of the channel will be less; however, they
will not disappear completely and we therefore cannot expect
trade to continue precisely as it did before.
(Lab)
What will be the consequences for air and road haulage traffic
between the UK and the EU under no deal if further arrangements
beyond the time-limited period are not agreed with the EU,
perhaps because we have, for example, declined to pay the £39
billion currently provided for on our departure from the EU?
The noble Lord is quite right that there are multiple mini-deals.
They expire at different times and we will look to the EU to
extend them. It is in the EU’s gift to decide whether to extend
them, as it is in our gift to decide whether to reciprocate. Any
elements of the arrangements surrounding our withdrawal will, I
believe, impact on our ability to negotiate these agreements.
(LD)
Will the Minister confirm that these are not mini-deals but basic
contingency measures, as the Commission itself has defined them?
Some will require continuing legislative reciprocity from the UK,
which we have not put on the statute book at the moment. They
will cover a period of only six months and, as the Commission
said, provide for only “basic connectivity” and,
“mitigate to some extent the impact of withdrawal, without
however guaranteeing the continuation of all existing air
transport services under the same terms as they are supplied
today”.
Is it not an outrage that some candidates to be our Prime
Minister will receive votes today from Conservative MPs while
proposing to enforce this by suspending Parliament, if Parliament
does not agree that some of these measures are not in the best
interests of our haulage or aviation sectors?
The noble Lord can call these deals what he likes—he mentioned
mini-deals—but I would call them the EU air connectivity
regulation and EU regulation 2019/501, the basic road freight
connectivity regulation. He said that they would mean that
transport cannot continue as it does now but the key point,
looking at the detail of the deal, is that it is substantially as
it is now. However, he is quite right that were these regulations
to fall away, which they do on varying dates for various forms of
transport, it will be necessary to look hard at what we do
thereafter.
(UKIP)
My Lords, does the Minister recall the Government’s Written
Answer to me on 6 February this year, which said that if we end
up trading on normal WTO most favoured nation terms, EU exporters
will pay us £14 billion per annum, while ours will pay Brussels
only £6 billion per annum? Might some of that £8 billion annual
profit not be useful in subsidising any unforeseen costs arising
from leaving the EU without a deal, with billions to spare for
other national priorities?
Unfortunately, I do not recall the Government’s response to the
noble Lord of 6 February. Discussions of tariffs are slightly
beyond the original scope of the Question, but we expect the EU’s
most favoured nation tariff regime to apply to the UK if the UK
leaves the EU without a deal. Noble Lords are also aware that
this will result in the introduction of tariffs on 60% of current
UK exports to the EU.
(Con)
My Lords, given that all the leading contenders for the
leadership of the Conservative Party have made clear that it is
important the European Union understands that we are prepared to
leave without a deal if we cannot get a sensible agreement, would
it not be sensible for the Government to publish, for each
department, what plans are in place, how they need to operate and
what future additions will be required?
As my noble friend mentioned, I am sure the EU fully understands
that the UK is willing to leave without a deal. Indeed, it is the
legal default and it may be that we have no option. The
Government are also undergoing extensive contingency planning in
the event that we leave with no deal. Further details of that
will be available shortly.
(Lab)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, said that the intention
was to “prioritise flow over compliance”. I refer to my interests
in the register on these matters. Does that mean the Government
are prepared to tolerate unsafe goods, those that violate
intellectual property laws and everything else coming into this
country, simply to facilitate the mantra of no deal?
The Government will certainly not tolerate that. That is why we
have designed customs and additional control arrangements to make
sure that appropriate checks are made.
