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Emily Thornberry – 2020 Speech on Trade with Japan

The speech made by Emily Thornberry, the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, on 14 September 2020.

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement and congratulate her on reaching this agreement. It is a much-needed relief for all those UK companies that would have seen their trade with Japan revert to World Trade Organisation terms if the agreement had not been reached by the end of the year. It is also a welcome benefit at a time of great economic uncertainty for the UK’s digital and tech sectors, and for other key exporters, which will benefit from greater access, faster tariff reductions or stronger geographical indication protections under this agreement than they enjoyed under the previous EU-Japan agreement. In the absence of a treaty text and a full updated impact assessment, there is much about the UK-Japan agreement that we still do not know and will not know until those documents are published. Nevertheless, I hope that the Secretary of State can answer some initial questions today.

First and foremost, will the Secretary of State tell us, in billions of pounds and percentages of growth, what benefits this agreement will produce for UK trade and GDP over and above the forecast benefits of simply rolling over the existing EU-Japan deal? I was glad to hear her refer to consultation with the farming sector. Can she tell us what benefits the sector will derive from this deal if the EU reaches its tariff rate quota limit for agricultural products, and how that will compare with the benefits that the sector was forecast to derive from the EU-Japan deal? Will she also tell us what the impact of Friday’s agreement will be on the UK aerospace sector relative to the impact of the EU-Japan deal?

Let me turn to three specific issues. Given that there has been lots of discussion about Stilton, can the Secretary of State tell us exactly how the treatment of Stilton differs under the deal that she has agreed compared with its existing treatment under the EU-Japan deal?

Given the current debate on state aid, can she confirm that the provisions on Government subsidies that she has agreed with Japan are more restrictive than the provisions in the EU-Canada deal, which No. 10 has said is the maximum it is prepared to accept in any UK trade deal with Brussels? On a similar subject, what provisions, if any, are included in the UK-Japan agreement relating to public procurement, and are they also consistent with the Government’s current negotiating position on an EU trade deal?

On the subject of Brexit, will the Secretary of State simply agree with me that, as welcome and necessary as this deal with Japan is, it is nothing like as important in terms of our global trade as reaching a deal to maintain free trade with the European Union? Our trade with Japan is worth 2.2% of our current global trade. That does not come anywhere near the 47% of trade that we have with Europe under the Government’s best-case scenario. The deal they signed on Friday will increase our trade with Japan by a little less than half in 15 years’ time. That is nothing compared with what we will lose in just four months if we do not get the deal with Europe that this Government have promised. That is why Nissan and every other Japanese company operating in Britain have told us that the deal that will determine the future of the investment and the jobs that they bring to our communities is not the one that we signed with Japan, but the one we sign with Europe.

I am glad that the Secretary of State has committed to a further debate on the agreement, given that there are many more questions to ask, but frankly there is no point in having that debate if Parliament does not have the right to vote. Will the Secretary of State guarantee today that once the treaty text and all the impact assessments have been published for proper scrutiny, she will bring the agreement back for a debate and vote, in Government time, just as will be done in the Japanese Parliament? It surely cannot be the case that this House will have less of a right to vote on a self-proclaimed historic deal agreed by the Secretary of State than will be enjoyed by our counterparts in Japan. May I ask her today to guarantee a vote, and to make it a precedent that will apply to all the other historic agreements she mentioned in her statement and that we hope are still to come?

September 14, 2020
Liz Truss – 2020 Statement on Trade with Japan

The statement made by Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade, in the House of Commons on 14 September 2020.

I am delighted to announce that last Friday we reached agreement in principle on a free trade deal with Japan. The UK-Japan comprehensive economic partnership agreement is a major moment in our national history. It shows that economic powerhouses, such as Japan, want ambitious deals with the United Kingdom, and it shows that the UK can succeed as an independent trading nation. It shows that we can strike deals that go further and faster than the EU—British-shaped deals that suit our economy.

This deal will drive economic growth and help level up our United Kingdom. On tech, it goes far beyond the EU-Japan deal, banning data localisation and providing for the free flow of data and net neutrality, benefiting our leading tech firms. In services, we have secured improved market access for financial services and better business mobility arrangements for professionals and their families. On food and drink, up to 70 of our brilliant British products can now be recognised in Japan, from Welsh lamb to Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese, English sparkling wine and Stornoway black pudding. Under the EU deal, that was limited to just seven. We have also secured tariff reductions on British goods from biscuits to pork, as well as continued access for malt and Stilton cheese.

In manufacturing, lower tariffs on parts and improved regulatory arrangements will benefit major employers such as Nissan and Hitachi in the north-east. The deal strengthens our ties with the world’s third-largest economy and deepens the bond between two like-minded island nations who believe in free and fair trade.

One of our greatest Prime Ministers, Mrs Thatcher, saw the value of co-operating with Japan in areas such as the automotive sector and electronics in the 1980s, which attracted the likes of Nissan and Toyota to our shores and delivered lasting benefits. Now, in 2020, we will unleash a new era of mutually beneficial economic co-operation with our great friend Japan, pushing new frontiers in areas such as tech and services trade. Japan, as one of the world’s major economies, is a vital partner for the UK and one of the most significant nations in the Pacific region. Securing this Japan deal is a key stepping stone towards joining the trans-Pacific partnership, which is one of the world’s largest free trade areas, covering 13% of the global economy and £110 billion-worth of trade. Accession is vital to our future interests. It will put us in a stronger position to reshape global rules alongside like-minded allies. It will hitch us to one of the fastest growing parts of the world. It will strengthen the global consensus for free trade at a time of global uncertainty and creeping protectionism. Japan, alongside this agreement, has given its strong commitment for UK accession to the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership, and last week I co-chaired a chief negotiators’ meeting of all 11 TPP countries—the first time that a non-member state has been asked to do this—where we discussed the path to UK membership. As negotiations progress, we will bring forward the formal application process to Parliament, and ensure that it is scrutinised openly and transparently.

As I have promised, there will be a full scrutiny process for the Japan deal and all the other agreements that we strike. Prior to entering negotiations, we issued a scoping assessment and published our objectives. During the negotiations, we have engaged extensively with business and stakeholders, including sharing sensitive tariff and market access information with our new trade advisory groups. We have established a Trade and Agriculture Commission to put our farmers at the heart of trade policy and ensure that their interests are advanced. When it is complete, I will be issuing a copy of the final deal to the International Trade Committee for scrutiny. We will also produce an independently scrutinised impact assessment, covering social, labour, environmental and animal welfare aspects of the agreement so that parliamentarians are able to interrogate the deal and prepare a report that is debated in Parliament. Ultimately, Parliament will decide whether to ratify the deal through the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act process or to withhold its support.

I am strongly of the view that this is a great deal for Britain. It benefits all parts of our country while protecting our red lines on areas such as the NHS and food standards. The agreement that we lay before Parliament will be the first of many, because there is a huge appetite to do business with global Britain and a huge opportunity for every part of this country to benefit from these agreements. This deal is a sign and a signal that we are back as an independent trading nation, back as a major force in global trade and back as a country that stands up for free enterprise across the world. This is just the start for global Britain.

September 14, 2020
Geeta Sidhu Robb – 2020 Apology for Anti-Semitic Comments

The apology made by Geeta Sidhu Robb, the now-suspended candidate to become the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of London, on Twitter on 13 September 2020.

I am deeply ashamed of the ignorant and abusive language I used on one occasion in the 1997 General Election campaign. As shown in the footage, I instantly regretted my appalling behaviour, which I continue to do.

Those words are entirely inconsistent with my views and values, and though there are no excuses for my actions, there is some context; that is, that I was under a great deal of strain and retaliated to the racial abuse I was receiving in Blackburn ‘like for like’.

Two wrongs never make a right. I made a mistake and I take responsibility for my abhorrent actions twenty three years ago, they were never repeated. I urge you to judge me on who I am today, a campaigner committed to eradicating inequality and discrimination in all its forms.

And I am actively reaching out to the Jewish community to listen and learn.

I particularly wish to acknowledge the hurt that these comments and actions would have inflicted on members of the Jewish community and of a Jewish heritage. Please know that my regret is sincere.

September 14, 2020
Ben Wallace – 2020 Comments on Duqm Port Investment

The comments made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, on 12 September 2020.

The long standing friendships between the UK and the Gulf states are more important than ever. With shared defence and security interests, it is vital we work together for both regional and global stability. Our trade links are just as strong, too – from cotton to aerospace.

Whether tackling Daesh, or making our streets in the UK safer thanks to our intelligence networks, these are hugely valuable relationships that I am pleased to be able to renew this week.

September 14, 2020
Bridget Phillipson – 2020 Comments on Treasury Select Committee Report

The comments made by Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on 11 September 2020.

It’s good to hear the Treasury Select Committee echo Labour’s calls for targeted support for jobs and businesses beyond the Chancellor’s October cliff edge.

This report adds to the chorus of warnings that the Chancellor’s one-size-fits-all withdrawal of wage support risks a huge spike in unemployment this autumn.

Labour, trade unions, businesses, think tanks, backbench Tory MPs and now the Treasury Select Committee are all sounding the alarm. What will it take to make this stubborn Chancellor listen?

September 14, 2020
Emily Thornberry – 2020 Comments on Trade Agreement Between UK and Japan

The comments made by Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, on 11 September 2020.

This agreement is a welcome and necessary step to maintain our current trading arrangements with Japan beyond December 31st, and to extend access for British companies in some key sectors. However, it is important to put it in perspective.

Trade with Japan represented 2.21% of our global total last year, and under the best case scenario put forward by the government, today’s agreement will see that total increase by just 0.07 percentage points each year, simply maintaining the levels of growth seen since 2015, and preserving the forecast benefits of the current EU-Japan agreement.

That all compares to the 47% of our global trade that we currently have with the EU. So necessary as this agreement is, the government’s over-riding priority has to be securing the oven-ready deal that they promised us with Europe, which Japanese companies like Nissan have told us is crucial to the future of the investment and jobs they bring to Britain.

September 14, 2020
Jonathan Ashworth – 2020 Comments on Increase in R Number

The comments made by Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Health Secretary, on 11 September 2020.

The increasing prevalence of Covid-19 is deeply worrying.

At the start of summer we warned Ministers that an effective test, trace and isolate regime was needed ahead of the autumn. Rather than following our advice Ministers have created a fiasco in testing and contact tracing.

It’s now urgent that an effective locally led public test, trace and isolate service is put in place to drive infections down and keep people safe. The Conservatives’ incompetence cannot hold Britain back from defeating the virus.

September 14, 2020
David Lammy – 2020 Comments on Reports Government are Abandoning Commitment to Human Rights Laws

The comments made by David Lammy, the Shadow Justice Secretary, on 13 September 2020.

Labour is proud of our country’s role in developing human rights at home and abroad.

Instead of giving unattributed briefings designed to distract the government should focus on getting a Brexit deal and defeating the virus.

Any attempt to abandon human rights would make life in Britain less secure and hold our country back on the world stage.

September 14, 2020
Keir Starmer – 2020 Article in the Sunday Telegraph

The article by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, in the Sunday Telegraph on 13 September 2020.

Let’s Get Brexit Done. That was the promise the Prime Minister made to the British people on the steps of Downing Street hours after last year’s General Election.

I accept that the leave-remain divide is over. The country needs – and wants – to move on. That is why it is in the best interests of the British people to negotiate a trade deal with Europe.

It is what the public want, it is what they were promised and it is what they expect to be delivered. I believe a deal is possible too. The outstanding issues are difficult, but they are not insurmountable. An agreement can be struck if both sides hunker down in good faith and break the logjam.

And yet, it is this Prime Minister and this Conservative Government who have turned the clock back and are reigniting old rows.

I am not blind to the fact this could be part of the Government’s negotiating strategy in the final weeks of talks. We were repeatedly told last year that the talks were on the brink of collapse, only for a breakthrough or concession from the Government to come a few days later. That is part and parcel of what we have come to expect from Brexit.

However, the decision to propose a Bill last week that would break an international agreement we signed a matter of months ago is wrong. Many former leaders of the Conservative Party have spoken out to say so. And I suspect the Prime Minister agrees with them and knows his actions are counterproductive.

First, public trust has been broken. The deal the Prime Minister promised would be done is now being reopened. The divisions within the Conservative Party are being reignited. And at a time when we are all doing everything we can do to follow social distancing rules, ministers are on the television and radio justifying why it is ok for them to break international law. It is as ludicrous as it is frustrating.

We have broken the trust of our global partners too. I believe we can be a proud nation on the world stage and a moral force for good. We can work with our international partners to strike the best possible trade deals. But, the Prime Minister risks holding Global Britain back. How can we get the best trade deals when we cannot be trusted to keep our word?

The Labour Party I lead will always speak out in the national interest. I want the talks with Europe to succeed. I have long argued that it is possible to get a deal that can allow businesses to thrive, good jobs to be created and peace in Northern Ireland to be preserved. I want to see our own union of nations –England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – protected too.

People want to move on from this torturous debate; they want to see a deal done so we can focus as a united nation on how we protect ourselves from the next wave of the pandemic.

We have all been alarmed by the sharp increase in coronavirus cases in recent days. We have all heard heart-breaking stories from friends or family members who have struggled to get a test. The anxiety we all felt at the start of this pandemic is returning. People are scared about what the next few months might bring, how the virus can be contained, how our economy can be protected and jobs can be saved. Our focus, the Government’s focus, must be on this.

I want ministers to be fixing the test, track and isolate system. I want to see a plan for how we can protect our care homes from a second wave, support families who are worried about their jobs and make sure children can still get the education they need. Those are my priorities. The priorities of the British people. We should be getting on with defeating this virus, not banging on about Europe.

Get on with Brexit and defeat the virus. That should be the Government’s mantra.

Labour is prepared to play its part in making that happen. If the Government fixes the substantial cross-party concerns that have been raised about the Internal Market Bill, then we are prepared to back it. But if they do not, and the talk collapse, then it is their failure and incompetence that will have let the British people down.

September 14, 2020
Darren Jones – 2020 Speech on Protecting Jobs

The text of the speech made by Darren Jones, the Labour MP for Bristol North West, in the House of Commons on 9 September 2020.

My simple request of Ministers today is that they summon the confidence to target support where it is needed most. The Chief Secretary said today to the House that he would not do that because a number of questions need answering. I may be old-fashioned—I hope he listens, as he leaves the Chamber—but I am sure it is for Ministers to answer the questions, not to sit back and wait for others to do their homework for them. If the Chief Secretary is not willing to provide sector-specific support, perhaps he could set out at the Dispatch Box why he is not willing to do that, as opposed to posing questions to Members in this House and deflecting from the call to arms.

Supporting the industrial foundations needed for our recovery and our future growth is right not just in terms of industrial policy, but in terms of spending taxpayers’ money.

The Government are understandably borrowing significant amounts of money, but they must spend every pound prudently. Wasting a few billion here and a few billion there is not acceptable when there are so many jobs and businesses on the line.

Ministers today might refer to HMRC reports that an estimated £3.5 billion has been fraudulently claimed from the furlough scheme, but that is the obvious pitfall of an open-to-all scheme. Bespoke packages of support to strategically important sectors would be negotiated directly with those businesses, with the due diligence and obligations that come with that. I hope that Ministers, too, will have the sophistication to differentiate support for the strategically important sectors—important for the foundations of our economy and our future growth—and the vast number of jobs in the broader economy that fish around them. If strategically important sectors cannot reopen or get back to work, the knock-on effect for bus drivers, security guards, coffee shops and the like, as well as the hospitality, creative and tourism sectors that rely on workers having money to spend, is clearly significant.

I have confidence that the Government are able to meet those challenges. In addition to sector-specific support, including for sectors that will take longer to reopen, that means two things. First, we need to ensure that we have an adequate test and trace system that gives employers, workers and unions the confidence to return to the workplace. It is not working; getting it right is crucial to retaining jobs in the economy. Secondly, we need the Chancellor to bring forward a fiscal investment in people, as well as a fiscal investment in infrastructure, with proper redundancy support services attached to skills and training opportunities in every part of the country.

British businesses are up for that challenge, from bringing forward R&D projects and decarbonising to pulling together in the national interest. This pandemic has shown the powerful partnership that can be formed between Government, businesses, workers and unions during times of crisis. We should try to hold on to that collective endeavour as we seek to recover and build the British economy, but that requires Ministers to step up to that challenge, to answer the questions that are being posed of them, and to take the necessary action to protect jobs and businesses across the whole of the country.

September 10, 2020