Motion Moved by Lord Johnson of Lainston That the Bill do now pass.
The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade (Lord
Johnson of Lainston) (Con) My Lords, I beg to move that the Bill do
now pass. If I may, I will say a few notes of thanks to the
participants and highlight a few core points. Other speakers may
wish to do the same, but I gather that I should go first in the
order of debate. The Bill is a narrow one, focused on technical
barriers to...Request free trial
Motion
Moved by
That the Bill do now pass.
The Minister of State, Department for Business and Trade () (Con)
My Lords, I beg to move that the Bill do now pass. If I may, I
will say a few notes of thanks to the participants and highlight
a few core points. Other speakers may wish to do the same, but I
gather that I should go first in the order of debate.
The Bill is a narrow one, focused on technical barriers to trade,
intellectual property and government procurement, but it will
help ensure that we meet our international obligations when we
accede to the CPTPP. We will be the first new member to accede to
the agreement. We have also, through our accession to this
wonderful institution, in effect established a brand-new set of
free trade agreements with Malaysia and Brunei.
This is also therefore a highly significant step, and taking this
Bill through your Lordships’ House has been a pleasure and a
privilege. I am delighted that the ambassadors and
representatives from all 11 CPTPP member states—Canada,
Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,
Peru, Singapore and Vietnam—are here today to witness this
historic moment. “Ocean’s Eleven” will become “Ocean’s
Twelve”.
Noble Lords
Oh!
(Con)
I spent a long time working on that joke—it did not work the
first time, but I thought I would try it at this final point.
This Chamber has seen productive debate, including following the
Bill’s Second Reading, which was opened with profound style by
the then new Foreign Secretary, my noble friend of Chipping Norton.
I turn first to the Opposition spokespeople, the noble Lords,
and . The scrutiny that
they have undertaken has been thoughtful and thorough, and they
have my sincere thanks for this.
I am indebted once again to my noble friend and his ability to purposely
probe legislation, this time in relation to geographical
indications and government procurement. I also extend my
gratitude to all members of the International Agreements
Committee, led by the noble and learned Lord, , for their continued
engagement, particularly the noble Baroness, Lady Hayter, and the
noble Lord, Lord Kerr.
It would also be right for me to express thanks to the noble
Lords, and , who I hope are reassured by
the robustness of our democratic processes around our treaty
obligations and my undertakings to ensure that all future
countries who wish to join the CPTPP, once we are a full member,
will receive full and proper scrutiny.
I am also grateful to the noble Lord, , for his extraordinary
knowledge of intellectual property law and his comments around
artists’ rights. I look forward to seeing the findings of the
consultation when it reports over the coming months. I also make
a commitment to continue to work with all CPTPP countries to
further the principle of artists’ resale rights, as recently
discussed with the noble Earl, .
I thank my noble friend of Richmond for his helpful
input around the risks to the environment and continue to
reassure noble Lords that we remain fully committed in this area
when negotiating free trade deals. There is no derogation of our
standards with our joining CPTPP. In fact, this forum allows us
to drive change and further align our partner countries with our
environmental values and ambitions.
Other important areas discussed during the Bill’s passage include
food standards, the UK’s financial sector and parts of the Bill’s
application in Northern Ireland. These issues were raised
frequently and emphatically by my noble friends Lady McIntosh,
Lord Holmes and Lady Lawlor, and the noble Baroness, Lady Willis.
I pay tribute to each of them for this and the engagement that
they afforded me.
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to thank my Secretary of
State, , for her skills in bringing
this process to a conclusion. She led a first-class team who
delivered a truly wonderful gift to this nation.
Behind the scenes, the extraordinary Bill team also put in an
unbelievable amount of effort. All Peers in this House who have
engaged in this or, indeed, any legislative process will be aware
of the extraordinary effort by our officials to ensure sensible
dialogue and great outcomes. My thanks go to James Copeland,
Alistair Ford, Jack Collins and Jack Masterman, as well as Hope
Hadfield, Neelam Mandair and Bayse Genc from the CPTPP team. I
also thank my private secretary, Lisa Banks, and other officials
who make up my private office, so ably led by Anthony
Donaldson.
Finally, I thank the parliamentary staff, including the
doorkeepers and the clerks, for their professionalism and
continued support to your Lordships’ House.
British businesses and consumers alike are set to benefit
significantly from our acceding to this trade group. It builds on
the free trade agreements that entered into force between the UK
and Australia and New Zealand in May last year, which I had the
honour of taking through Parliament. It will result in new market
access for our world-leading goods and services. We are removing
tariffs, which will help our farmers, service providers and
businesses export across the world to new, fast-growing economies
and populations hungry for our produce. As Lord Haldane so wisely
said, tariffs are not the answer; the only way to remain ahead of
our rivals is to continue to be ahead of them in the quality of
what we make. No tariff can keep out that quality which is the
key to quantity.
The CPTPP is a gateway to greater growth and economic prosperity
for all parts of the UK. I repeat the wonderful quotation from
William H Seward:
“the Pacific Ocean, its shores, its islands, and the vast regions
beyond, will become the chief theatre of events in the World’s
great Hereafter”.
As the Bill travels to the other place and develops, it is
important that we continue to work with the devolved nations to
ensure that we have their appropriate co-operation and
collaboration. With that, I thank all noble Lords in this
House.
The (CB)
My Lords, briefly, I thank the Minister for his active engagement
on the artist’s resale right; I am encouraged by the direction of
travel. In particular, I thank him for yesterday’s meeting on
ARR, which he efficiently managed to schedule for before today’s
Third Reading. I thank Reema Selhi of DACS, Oliver Evans of the
Maureen Paley gallery, and my noble friend , who is in his place, for
their valuable contributions to this discussion, particularly on
how the international element can be better understood. I am
grateful to the Minister for listening and for his active
involvement in this area. Following ratification in July, I look
forward to seeing how membership will help further these aims, in
relation to both the countries concerned and other
agreements.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, this is a very important Bill and I have supported it
strongly. But before we finally complete Third Reading, I point
out again to this House, as I did in Committee, that two clauses
do not apply to part of the United Kingdom: Northern Ireland. We
have been left under the European Union rules and will not be
able to take advantage of these provisions.
Some new terminology was brought in, but although the provisions
covered Northern Ireland, they would not apply to Northern
Ireland. In terms of equal citizenship —because of what we did in
leaving the European Union while leaving Northern Ireland out of
that—Northern Ireland has once again been left out. That is a
very sad reflection of the Conservative Government’s aim and
promise that they believed in a United Kingdom and in the
union.
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on the
enthusiastic verve with which he has handled the whole of this
legislation. We in the International Agreements Committee have
been examining the detail of membership at considerable length
for some time. Long before that, and long before Brexit many
years ago, we were working to see our greater involvement in this
pivot to south-east Asia and Latin America.
As the Minister said, this is a historic moment: we are entering
now, with new opportunities, the fastest-growing markets of the
next 30 years. Beyond that lie even bigger investment
opportunities and markets which will ensure that we can maintain
our own living standards in this country. This is a great move in
the right direction, which will, if we work at it, bring enormous
benefits.
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Minister on securing
the safe passage of the Bill. He is aware of the concern of
farmers across North Yorkshire and the rest of the country about
the Bill’s impact. I look forward to the increasing consumption
of cheese, chocolate and whisky produced in all four parts of
this country in all the countries that are party to the CPTPP—the
whole thing; tout.
Can I raise two issues with my noble friend? Will he work very
closely with Defra on the labelling of provisions when we
eventually import products that may not meet the same standards
of animal welfare and environmental protection that our farmers
have to meet? Can I press him on his last comment on seeking the
legislative consent of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish? It
is complex. Does he have a date—now that the Bill will pass to
the other place—when that legislative consent will be
granted?
(CB)
My Lords, may I ask the Minister a very brief question? I was on
the committee at about the time he joined so he may not remember
this, but as a committee we were very strongly in favour of the
department bringing out a trade policy paper which would
highlight all the good things about Britain, if you like. It
would tell us more what the department was thinking while we were
going through line by line. Can he resurrect that project? Will
he give us an answer?
(LD)
My Lords, the Companion is quite clear that we do not reopen at
Third Reading elements of the debate that we had at earlier Bill
stages, so this is an opportunity for me to thank the Minister
for his openness. He has been assiduous in replying to questions,
as I am sure he will be for those asked of him today. It perhaps
illustrates that while we are passing this Bill which facilitates
the UK ratification of the accession, the other member states
will also have to ratify and go through their own constitutional
processes to do so. Many of the issues raised during the passage
of the Bill will continue to be relevant, such as the impact on
developing countries and the standard issues on impacts that my
noble friends raised. We will continue to engage with the
Minister with regard to all those.
I also welcome the diplomatic community who have been gathered by
the Minister to bear witness to this. They are excellent
representatives of their countries. Notwithstanding that,
according to “Rotten Tomatoes”, “Ocean’s Twelve” is the weakest
of the film series, as my noble friend pointed out, we always consider
the Minister as the George Clooney of the Government in this
House. For myself, I think Brad Pitt probably had the better
role.
However, if the whole country is to benefit from the largesse of
the 0.08% growth over 15 years, it will be as a result of the
Minister’s enthusiasm. If we could market and export ministerial
enthusiasm, we would be on to a winner with that he presents. All
six of his predecessors whom I have shadowed in this House had
equal levels of enthusiasm for growing British trade. We will see
the operationalisational elements of this agreement by the fact
of British exporters needing support to access the markets, for
there to be an industrial strategy from the Government and for
the export strategy to be grown. We want success for our
exporters, trading with our friends, using this agreement and I
am sure this will not be the last time we will debate our trade
with these nations.
In the meantime, I congratulate the Minister and thank him for
what he has done during the proceedings of the Bill.
(CB)
I too congratulate the Minister and thank him for the way he has
handled relations, not just with the House but with its
International Agreements Committee. He has been open, transparent
and forthcoming with documents.
I also make a public service announcement. In the next couple of
weeks, the International Agreements Committee will be publishing
a full report on our accession. Let me reassure the House, as we
pass this Bill, that the International Agreements Committee will
not say anything which would imply that we should not pass it. We
too very much welcome this accession.
(Con)
I appreciate all the comments made. I will revert back on the
principles around legislative consent, but I can assure your
Lordships that we are having very constructive conversations with
all the devolved nations. I beg to move.
Bill passed and sent to the Commons.
|
