International Trade Committee report on UK trade
negotiations: Parliamentary scrutiny of free trade
agreements
Summary
We have now undertaken scrutiny of the first two wholly-new free
trade agreements (FTAs) negotiated and signed by the UK
Government since leaving the European Union. As we have recorded
in our reports on those FTAs, the process has not always gone
smoothly nor met our expectations or those set by the
Government’s original commitments.
We welcome the new Secretary of State’s positive approach to
engaging with us to date, and hope our report provides a helpful
foundation for further constructive discussions.
In reflecting on our experience of the scrutiny process and
evidence received, we have developed recommendations to help the
Government better support strong parliamentary scrutiny of FTAs
in the short, medium and long term.
As a central element of our long-term recommendations, we ask the
Government to review fully how it works with others—including
Parliament—through the whole FTA negotiation cycle, reporting
within this parliamentary Session.
We consider the statutory provisions for parliamentary scrutiny
to be insufficient and that the additional commitments the
Government has made do not go far enough or have enough force.
Consequently, we ask the Government to include these in its
review and bring amendments arising from this before Parliament
within the next twelve months. We also recommend that, as part of
its review, the Government systematically considers how other
parliamentary democracies undertake scrutiny, to identify
potential improvements to the current UK process. We further ask
the Government to consider in its review how it engages with
Parliament and its committees specifically, including how it can
involve and sight us more closely on details before and during
negotiations.
There are other areas where we ask the Government to take further
steps, which should be undertaken in the medium term. We
reiterate the importance of the Government producing a single
coherent strategy document, adding calls for it to also produce a
clear set of common negotiating principles and a clear analysis
of the cumulative impact of FTAs on UK nations, regions and
sectors. We note the interest in ‘non-trade’ issues being
included in future FTAs, as some—including human rights—have been
in the past. We ask the Government to confirm its position on how
and where these issues should be addressed.
In the short-term, we ask the Government to accept specific
recommendations to enable better scrutiny of any FTAs which are
signed before it concludes its longer-term review. We ask the
Government to ensure that Parliament is able to debate and
potentially influence the Government’s strategic approach and
objectives for individual FTAs before negotiations start. Recent
commitments have provided welcome additional clarity around parts
of the timeline for scrutinising FTAs, but they still do not go
far enough. We ask for stronger commitments, including around
sharing documents in advance and when it will trigger the short
statutory scrutiny period.
The Government has the prerogative to undertake trade
negotiations, but the House of Commons has a statutory power to
delay ratification if it considers this appropriate. The House
was not granted a meaningful opportunity to debate the Australia
FTA and our report, nor the chance to vote on whether to delay
ratification, and it remains unclear whether this will be the
case for the New Zealand FTA. We ask the Government to ensure
that a timely request for a debate on a substantive motion is
granted, by making the parliamentary time available.
Full report
