Extracts from Commons
statement on Brexit
(South East
Cambridgeshire) (Con): The hon. and learned Member for
Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer) suggested that the European
Court of Justice would retain jurisdiction over disputes in
respect of the trade deal. Given that the Canada trade deal
contained an arbitration clause, does the Secretary of State
think that that is absolutely necessary?
The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union (Mr
David Davis): There is always an arbitration clause in
any trade deal, but who carries out the arbitration forms part of
the deal. That is what we will agree, and I think it is
incredibly unlikely that it will be the European Court of
Justice.
(Stretford and Urmston)
(Lab): The EU is in the process of concluding
international trade deals with, for example, Japan and Canada,
which the UK Government have warmly supported, believing they
will be good for the UK economy; I understand that the UK
Government estimate that the Japanese deal could be worth £5
billion annually to the British economy. How quickly can those
deals be replaced when we leave the EU, and what modelling have
the Government done of the potential cost to our economy if they
cannot quickly be replaced with new deals?
Mr Davis: There is little point in modelling
what is not going to happen. For many of the most important deals
for us, the expectation is that we will get, as it were, an
immediate transfer, and then we will start talking about
improving the deals between us. Not all EU trade deals have been
that beneficial for Britain, and we could certainly improve some
of them.
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Extract from SNP debate
on Leaving the EU: the Rural Economy
(Berwickshire, Roxburgh and
Selkirk) (SNP): ...There is no easy way to withdraw from
the world’s largest trading bloc, and the search for alternative
markets will involve a host of costs and compromises. For
example, Canada’s standard tariff on beef stands
at 26.5% and South Africa’s is currently at 40%. Do the
Government really think that alternative markets, many with lower
production costs than our own, can compensate for restricted
access to the EU? The recent success of Scotland’s £14 billion—I
was slightly taken aback by the size of that figure—food and
drink sector shows that we are already an exporting global
country. New trade links cannot mitigate the economic vandalism
of cutting off access to a market of 500 million people on our
doorstep...
To read the complete debate, CLICK
HERE
