Extracts from
International Trade questions: Import of Medical
Products
(Easington) (Lab) [V]:
Across the world, we are being advised to wash our hands with
soap regularly to keep us safe from the virus, but the average
import tariff on soap among WTO members stands at 17%, with some
countries charging tariffs of up to 65%. What steps has the
Minister taken to seek global agreement to reduce tariffs on the
import of soap and other hygiene products, to combat the spread
of covid-19?
The Minister for Trade Policy (): That is a very good question
and I thank the hon. Gentleman for asking it. We are working
tirelessly, at different international fora, to ensure that trade
barriers—either long-standing barriers or ones that have been
thrown up as a result of the crisis—are reduced or removed. For
example, just last month, at the UK’s initiative, the G20 Trade
Ministers met and discussed a lot of these and took significant
action. We have also been lobbying bilaterally, most
successfully, with India to ensure that such
barriers are reduced or removed.
(Islington South and
Finsbury) (Lab): Thank you, Mr Speaker. May I also thank my
colleagues for asking such vital questions about shortages of PPE
and other essential medical supplies?
One area where we have, thankfully, not seen shortages to date is
the supply of prescription medicines, thanks to the so-called
Brexit buffer of supplies built up in preparation for a no-deal
Brexit. But given that this buffer only provides somewhere
between three to six months of supplies, will the Minister tell
us how the Government are getting on with replenishing these
stocks from imports, so that we do not experience any shortages
once the Brexit buffer starts to run out?
: I join the Secretary of the
State in welcoming the right hon. Lady to her position. After
four years of the hon. Member for Brent North (), we always look forward to
seeing somebody new at the Dispatch Box.
Again, we are active in all available forums to ensure that the
UK’s supply of prescription and non-prescription medicines
continues. For example, following the restrictions that
India put in place on 3 March, my right hon.
Friend the Secretary of State has been very active with the
Indian Trade Minister to get almost all those
restrictions removed. We will continue to be active with all our
trade partners to ensure that products continue to flow to our
NHS at this time.
Extract from Lords
motion to consider the Census (England and Wales) Order
2020
(CB): My
Lords, an ill-conceived campaign to confine Sikh teachings open
to all to a single ethnicity is being led by an extremist fringe
group, the Sikh Federation, which rejects key Sikh teachings. Its
un-Sikh-like argument is that being recorded under ethnicity will
get us more resources than other religions. It also plays on the
hurt felt by many of us over the 1984 genocide of Sikhs, saying
that reducing the religion to an ethnic group will help us to get
a Sikh state in India.
(Con):...On ethnicity, I
lived in India for a couple of years of my life
and know the Sikh community well. I do not understand why they
are not included under ethnicity; certainly their cause is far
greater than that of the Roma, who are now included in that
category...
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