Extracts from oral questions in the House of Commons today to
ministers for the Cabinet Office
Trade: UK and EU
(Great Grimsby) (Con)
What steps the Government are taking to help ensure goods can
continue to flow freely between the UK and the EU. (912177)
(North West Norfolk) (Con)
What steps the Government are taking to help ensure goods can
continue to flow freely between the UK and the EU. (912183)
(Totnes) (Con)
What steps his Department is taking to help ensure frictionless
exports to the EU. (912185)
(Tewkesbury) (Con)
What steps the Government are taking to help ensure goods can
continue to flow freely between the UK and the EU. (912190)
(South East Cornwall) (Con)
What steps the Government are taking to help ensure goods can
continue to flow freely between the UK and the EU. (912193)
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the
Cabinet Office
()
Our trade and co-operation agreement with the EU is the first
free trade agreement that the EU has ever reached based on zero
tariffs and zero quotas. The agreement will help unlock
investment and protect high-value jobs right across the UK. We
will now take full advantage of the opportunities created by this
deal, helping to boost productivity, unlock investment and
safeguard high-value jobs in the UK. Goods are flowing freely
through our ports, with levels of freight around what we would
expect for this time of year, but we are also working closely
with businesses that are facing challenges, and we are in regular
operational contact with EU countries in order to smooth trade.
[V]
I thank my right hon. Friend for his answer, and I know he is
doing all he can to reduce the turbulence, but Grimsby fish
exporters are reporting to me that despite the EU agreement on
free trade, French ports are introducing additional paperwork and
extra costs. They are even insisting that we hire EU nationals to
do that additional work. Will he take this matter up, so that we
can ensure that the people of the EU continue to enjoy the
highest quality seafood in Europe, processed in Great Grimsby?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The highest-quality seafood
in the whole of Europe is produced in Great Grimsby. Indeed, I
remember my dad, when he ran a fish processing business, sending
some of the fish that he bought at Aberdeen fish market to
Grimsby for processing, and it was enjoyed on tables across
Europe. She is absolutely right to say that there are still some
bureaucratic obstacles that we need to negotiate and navigate. We
have set up a specific seafoods export working group, which meets
twice weekly, and we are engaging with our friends in France in
order to ensure that we can continue to enjoy Great Grimsby fish.
[V]
Two exporters in Kings Lynn, Guy Raymond Engineering and Captain
Fawcett, a gentleman’s grooming firm, have raised concerns about
waiting up to 16 hours for HMRC transit documentation, delays in
customs clearance in France and other countries as they interpret
the rules differently, and each courier firm demanding different
informational declarations. This is delaying the delivery of
their products, so will my right hon. Friend take up these issues
with courier firms, HMRC and our EU partners so that goods can
continue to flow to customers?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that in order to ensure
that we have a seamless flow of trade, each individual element in
that chain needs to be working as effectively as possible, so we
are working with courier companies to ensure that we can smooth
any difficulties, HMRC is looking at easements and facilitations,
and of course we are talking to our EU friends and neighbours to
ensure that there is a consistent approach.
Under the terms of the EU-UK trade deal, there is a requirement
to set up a sanitary and phytosanitary trade committee as well as
a committee on fishing. When will those committees be set up? If
the EU does not adhere to the rules and the agreements that were
made, will we restrict the licence given to any European fishing
vessels in our waters?
My hon. Friend is a formidable advocate for the seafood sector;
one of the largest fishing ports in England is in his
constituency. He is absolutely right to say that there are means
and mechanisms by which we and the EU can work together to smooth
the export of high-quality seafood. There have been difficulties
and challenges, but we are overcoming them and it is also
important that we reserve our own rights when it comes to
ensuring that the EU lives up to its side of the bargain.
Mr Robertson
Less than an hour ago, my office received a call from a haulier
in my constituency who has been sending animal-based products to
the continent for 40 years. The vet-checked lorry, which had its
seal on, was held up at the Calais compound for 11 hours, even
though it was on its way to Germany. It was eventually passed
with just a cursory glance. In his meetings with his EU
counterparts later today, will my right hon. Friend raise such
issues and stress to them that it is not acceptable, and
certainly not necessary, to do that?
My hon. Friend makes an important point. Exporters have gone to
great lengths to ensure that the products of animal origin that
they are exporting meet the SPS requirements that are in place,
and delays of the kind he mentions are unacceptable, so I will
investigate that case.
Mrs Murray [V]
Fishing exporters in my constituency are having problems
exporting to the EU. We signed a deal that said we could export
to the EU. What action is my right hon. Friend taking to ensure
that these exports happen without hindrance, and will he start
boarding EU vessels in retaliation if we still see this
obstructive action on the part of the European Union?
My hon. Friend has been one of the doughtiest defenders of the
fishing sector in this House for a few years now, and she is
absolutely right to say that we need to ensure that any
bureaucratic obstructions that individual EU member states may
still be applying are lifted. As I mentioned in response to our
hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (), we will
reserve our right as an independent coastal state to do whatever
is required to ensure that our fishermen are backed up every step
of the way.
(Dundee East) (SNP) [V]
The House of Commons Library described the EU trade and
co-operation agreement by saying, as the Minister has:
“There will be no tariffs or quotas…provided rules of origin are
met.”
However, it went on to say:
“There are increased non-tariff barriers, but measures on customs
and trade facilitation to ease these.”
Given that 60% of companies have had difficulties importing from
or exporting to the EU, and that 30% or more of companies have
had their supply chain impacted in both directions, when will the
measures to ease the problems at the borders begin to work?
First, I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his appointment to
his new role in the recent Scottish National party Westminster
reshuffle, and look forward to working with him across the
Dispatch Box. He is right to say that a number of facilitations
and easements have been put in place, some before the end of the
transition period on 31 December, but we are providing more
support, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises in
order to enable them to take full advantage of their new
opportunities.
I am struggling to see the advantages and new opportunities. A
firm in my constituency, Wilde Mode Ltd, imports, among other
things, rolls of printed fabric from Poland. Before Brexit, the
cost of delivery was less than €40, but because courier and other
companies are no longer shipping to the UK the owners of that
company are now being quoted €2,000 for the same delivery. As the
Minister will know, that is completely unsustainable. So I ask
again: when will the measures to ease these problems be put in
place fully and actually start to work?
I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising the case of the
firm in his constituency and will look specifically at that
firm’s challenges, and the position of both the firm in Poland
that supplies all those fabrics and the courier he mentions, in
order to make sure that any interruption in the free flow of
produce from Poland to Dundee is dealt with.
(Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab) [V]
A Make UK survey shows that 61% of manufacturers are suffering
disruption to their supply chain; one car company is parking
hundreds of cars because of problems with its supply chain; road
haulage in Northern Ireland is in chaos; the Road Haulage
Association survey shows that more than one in two of its members
throughout the UK are swamped by red tape; and Government
officials are even advising companies to set up hubs on the
continent, when we should be building British and buying British.
What will the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster do finally to
ease such burdens on business on our great British companies,
which are deeply damaging, at the worst possible time?
I could not agree more with the hon. Gentleman on the need to
build British and buy British. The procurement Green Paper that
the Cabinet Office Minister produced
enables us to do just that. The hon. Gentleman mentioned a number
of examples of disruption. There have been some challenges, but
there have also been some reports, including, I regret to say, in
The Observer, that have not been wholly accurate in their
depiction of the challenges our exporters face.
Does the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster begin to recognise
the scale of the mountainous problems confronting British
business? The Government left them with one week between
Christmas eve and 1 January to adapt to new rules running to
hundreds of pages. Then, when companies all across the UK raised
their concerns, the Prime Minister dismissed them as “teething
problems”. Will the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster take
this opportunity to apologise to British business for the
disruption the Government have inflicted on them?
I know the hon. Gentleman has dedicated his life, both before he
came into this House and in this House, to supporting British
manufacturing, so I take seriously the concerns he raises. We
meet business representative organisations every week through the
Brexit business taskforce in order to deal with any challenges
and to explore additional opportunities. I should have welcomed
him to his new role in the shadow Cabinet Office team. I look
forward to working with him, because I know that he is dedicated
to making sure that British manufacturers, the best in the world,
have all the opportunities they need. I hope to work
pragmatically with him to achieve just that.
