Tag: Viscount Waverley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-06-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many trade agreements are currently being negotiated by the EU, and with which countries.

Lord Price

The European Commission is actively negotiating seven bilateral trade and investment agreements. These are with the following countries: USA, Japan, Philippines, India, the Mercosur bloc, Morocco and Tunisia. The European Commission is negotiating bilateral investment agreements with Burma and China. In addition, the European Commission is also engaged in the negotiation of two “plurilateral” agreements on behalf of the EU: the Trade in Services Agreement and the Environmental Goods Agreement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-04-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the event of the UK leaving the EU, they intend to advise UK citizens living in EU member states to take citizenship in their country of residence in order to protect their legal rights.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Should the UK choose to stay in the EU, British citizens will be able to work, live and retire abroad as they do now. UK citizens and citizens from other Member States living in the UK get a range of rights from our membership of the EU. If the UK were to leave the EU, all of these rights would have to be covered in a successor arrangement. If we left the EU without agreeing what would happen to these rights, it would at the least bring them into serious question, creating difficulty for UK citizens who relied on them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-06-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which European trade agreements are awaiting ratification by the UK Parliament.

Lord Price

The EU-Southern Africa Economic Partnership Agreement and the EU-Central America Association Agreement are expected to be presented to Parliament in the near future.

The EU has concluded negotiations with the following partners and, assuming that these agreements are approved in Council as being of “mixed competence”, each will need to be approved by Parliament: Canada, Ecuador, Singapore, Vietnam, Eastern Africa, and Western Africa.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-04-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the event of the UK leaving the EU, how they intend to change the status of domicile, if at all, in relation to UK citizens living in EU member states.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley

Domicile in the UK is an English common law concept which is distinct from citizenship and nationality. It is not dependent on EU law nor on the UK’s membership of the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Viscount Waverley on 2016-06-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether gas supplies to the UK are secure and will remain competitively priced following the vote to leave the EU, and what contingency plans they have in place; what percentage of UK gas supplies originate from Russia; and what assessment they have made of whether the devaluation of sterling against the rouble following the vote to leave the EU will adversely affect gas prices.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Energy security is my top priority. The Department will take the steps needed to ensure hard working families and business have the energy they need, including from overseas where this adds to the diversity and cost effectiveness of our energy supplies.

The UK has high levels of gas security from a diverse supply mix including storage facilities; pipelines from Norway, Netherlands and Belgium; and LNG terminals. This is in addition to domestic production which met over half our annual demand of 773TWh in 2014. Gas shippers in the UK purchase gas from hubs across Europe without HMG intervention in a competitive market.