International treaties and agreements

Part of European Union (Withdrawal) Bill – in the House of Commons at 9:25 pm on 13 December 2017.

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Photo of Chris Leslie Chris Leslie Labour/Co-operative, Nottingham East 9:25, 13 December 2017

That is indeed a question I was coming to. I am sure that the Minister will tell us that the Government have made an itemised assessment of all those 759 treaties.

Those treaties break down as follows: 295 bilateral and multilateral trade deals, whose approval is needed to recreate any multilateral arrangements that will fall away as we leave the European Union; 202 regulatory co-operation agreements, including on data sharing, anti-trust and so forth; 69 treaties on fisheries, including access to waters and sustainable stocks; 65 treaties on transport and aviation services agreements; 49 treaties on customs agreements, including on the transportation of goods; 45 treaties on nuclear agreements, including on the use of nuclear fuel with other countries, parts and know-how; and 34 treaties on agriculture.

On top of those 759, there are an estimated further 110 opt-in accords at the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation that we have entered into via our membership of the European Union. A number of them might seem innocuous, but some are incredibly important. To put why this is so important into perspective, with Switzerland—just one country—we have, by virtue of our membership of the European Union, 49 treaties covering air transport, broadcasting, public procurement and legal services. As we come out of the EU after 29 March 2019, we will need to find a way of carrying forward—copying and pasting; getting agreement that they are still extant; or, sometimes, grandfathering, as it is called—those 49 treaties just with Switzerland, as well as 44 agreements with the United States and 38 with Norway. That is a not inconsiderable task.