Extracts from Business
and Trade questions
Scottish Trade and Culture
(Glasgow North) (SNP): What
discussions she has had with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) the
Scottish Government on promoting Scottish trade and culture
overseas.
The Secretary of State for Business and Trade (): I regularly discuss with
my Cabinet colleagues promoting trade in Scotland as well as the
United Kingdom as a whole. Just this week I chaired a meeting of
the Board of Trade that focused on trade promotion across the
nations, and held discussions, alongside the Secretary of State
for Scotland, on ensuring that the Department’s work delivers for
the whole UK.
: That sounds just wonderful,
but I would like to know how the Secretary of State thinks ending
freedom of movement has helped to promote Scottish trade and
culture overseas. Does she think it is a good thing that musicians in
Glasgow North now find it much more difficult to tour in
Europe—one of the most important markets for traditional Scottish
music nowadays —and that their merchandise can no longer be
manufactured in Scotland but must be manufactured in the
countries to which they are travelling because the customs costs
have become so prohibitive?
: I welcome the hon.
Gentleman’s early-morning snarkiness as he asks about what we are
doing for Scotland. We understand that there are issues that
people have across borders, and my Department works closely with
musicians
and with all those who trade across borders to see what we can do
to resolve those issues. If there are specific cases in the hon.
Gentleman’s constituency, the Department is well placed to help
his constituents with the issues he has described...
Trade with European
Countries
(Manchester, Withington) (Lab):
On the subject of barriers to trade, not only is our
world-leading cultural sector valuable in itself for our soft
power, but it is an important part of our export trade. But our
musicians face
unnecessary red tape when trying to tour Europe. We need an
EU-wide visa waiver for touring artists. The Secretary of State
said earlier that her Department “works closely
with musicians ,
so what is it actually doing to resolve this problem?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade
(): I know that my
colleagues at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are
working hard with our European counterparts to try to ease the
difficulties in that area—we recognise it as a problem. Many
positive things are happening in current trade with the EU.
Indeed, in 2022, the north-west—the hon. Gentleman’s
region—exported £33 billion-worth of goods and £24.5
billion-worth of services, which is the area he is referring to.
The north-west is the third largest area in the country for
services exported to the EU.
Extracts from Commons
debate on Artificial Intelligence
(Brent Central) (Lab):...There
was a really stark example when we heard some information in
regard to musicians
music and our voices. Our voices are currently not protected, so
with the advancements of deepfake, anybody in this House can have
their voice attached to something using deepfake and we would
have no legal recourse, because at the moment our voices are not
protected. I believe that we need a digital Bill of Rights that
would outlaw the most dangerous uses of AI, which should have no
place in a real democracy...
(Ochil and South Perthshire)
(SNP):...Many in the arts sphere feel safe from AI, as they
suspect that human creativity at the artistic level cannot be
replicated. I very much hope that they are right, but once that
human creativity has been captured, it can be reproduced
eternally, perhaps with higher production levels. It is not, I
feel, the sole responsibility of artists, musicians
and playwrights to be concerning themselves with radical
developments in AI. They have work to do as it is, and surely the
job to protect them is ours. We need to get on top of the
copyright issues, and we need to protect future performers from
having their rights sold away along with their very first
contracts. We as parliamentarians must think deeply, listen and
research widely. I have heard some heartening—sometimes lengthy
—speeches that show there is, cross party, an awareness and a
willingness to grasp this, and that is deeply encouraging...
To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE
