(Lothian)
(Con):...Although the Scotland Act 1998
categorises international trade as a reserved matter, Scottish
Government officials regularly engage with officials from the
UK Government’s Department for International Trade. They can
offer devolved expertise on a range of issues that the UK
Government might find valuable in its own positioning. That
could be hugely important, in light of the potential
negotiations in front of us, with vast untapped potential for
broadening our horizons—not least because the International
Monetary Fund predicts that 90 per cent of growth in the next
10 years will be outside the EU. There are also significant
gaps where the EU has failed to deliver free trade and
investment deals—for example, the lack of a comprehensive trade
deal with India, with its marketplace of 1.3 billion
people.
: Will the member
give way?
: Not at the
minute. I am seeking to make progress.
The position regarding India’s marketplace of 1.3 billion people,
with which the EU has failed to make a comprehensive deal, is
exemplified in the export statistics. Scottish exports
to India sit at only £235 million,
compared with those to the small country of Luxembourg at £370
million, which tells us that there is much more to be done on
the world stage. Negotiating trade and investment deals after
Brexit could therefore be a game-changing opportunity for
international exports, as the chief executive of Scotland Food
& Drink has said recently...
(Ettrick, Roxburgh and
Berwickshire) (Con):...The opportunity to
take Scotland global and really showcase our products abroad
could be positive for our economy. At the moment, Scotland
exports £370 million to Luxembourg but just £235 million
to India, and we trade 80 per cent more
with Ireland than we do with China. Only three of the top 10
countries in the world by size of population appear in the top
20 for Scotland’s exports. I see Mike Russell putting his hands
on his head. I think that there is huge potential, but clearly
he cannot see that. With Brexit, we have the chance to change
the current situation, and I just wish that Mike Russell was
slightly more optimistic for Scotland...
(Mid Scotland and Fife)
(Con):...I want to turn to how future
trading agreements will be negotiated, agreed and implemented.
A number of members, including and , highlighted that
withdrawing from the EU will give us the opportunity to shape
our own trade and expand it with some of the fastest-growing
economies in the world, including China
and India. Our current exports to those
markets are marginal: for example, less than 2 per cent of our
exports go to China and less than 1 per cent go
to India...
The Cabinet Secretary for Government Business and
Constitutional Relations (Michael
Russell):...When the obvious questions
were asked—Who would they be with? On what terms?—, who would not take an
intervention on that point, argued that the country in question
is India. Let us look for a second at the
reality of the Indian trade agreement with the EU,
which has not been finalised for two reasons that are widely
admitted. They are: because India wants to continue tariffs
on Scotch whisky, and because the UK would not accept the
demand for access and migration—a point that was made by
the Indian ambassador to the UK when he
said that they are “in no rush” to do the deal...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
