Examination of Witnesses

Part of Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 10:24 am on 23 January 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Anneliese Dodds Anneliese Dodds Shadow Minister (Treasury) 10:24, 23 January 2018

Q Many thanks to Mr White for setting out quite a different approach to how the Bill could have been structured. It has been quite salutary for the Committee to hear that. In the comments that you made, Helen Dennis, about the proposed system for least developed countries, you said that you felt that the Government have taken the best bits of the existing approach. Certainly, the exclusion of arms is retained here. There is a question about the extent of conditionality, because in the European system there is conditionality about good governance and environmental sustainability. Could you comment on that? I understand that that is not replicated to the same extent.

I have an additional question about the distorted economies. We have very little detail about how distorted economies will be dealt with in the Bill. Do you have any comments on that, given that there are severe human rights concerns in many of those economies about certain elements of production, including modern slavery?