Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, I would like to join others in welcoming my noble friend Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton to this House. Like many others, I am here due to him. I had the great honour of being appointed as Trade Minister, so it is very appropriate we are talking about trade, particularly as my noble friend Lord Cameron was such a great proponent of trade. I joined him on many export missions around...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, I would like to join others in welcoming my noble friend Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton to this House. Like many others, I am here due to him. I had the great honour of being appointed as Trade Minister, so it is very appropriate we are talking about trade, particularly as my noble friend Lord Cameron was such a great proponent of trade. I joined him on many export missions around...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, first, I commend fellow Peers of the English and Welsh variety for their sacrifice in being here tonight—speaking as a Scotsman, I can say that it has not been an issue. As a number of noble Lords have said, the Chancellor was dealt an incredibly difficult hand. We can debate the mix of causes, but I would argue that a mixture of the after-effects of the pandemic, energy price...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, would my noble friend agree that, while the Israel Defense Forces are not perfect, the obsession with focusing on them—despite their being the most moral and professional army in the Middle East—is very strange? At the same time, one must also focus on, for example, the Palestinian authorities having more than 30 schools named after terrorists who have murdered Israelis. These...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, I think the vast majority of Members of this House are of the view that no deal would be a disaster. We hear from some people from the European Research Group that somehow it is doable. This House is discussing not whether no deal would be a minor inconvenience but how we avoid it. Given that—despite what the leader of the Opposition has said—there is no alternative deal on the...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, does the Minister agree that the UK has had a much more sophisticated approach to Chinese companies for many years, both in setting up the cyber centre that looks at Huawei source code to understand it, and in recognising that in certain parts of UK networks, such as BT’s core network, it was not appropriate to put it in? It also recognises that much equipment from other countries...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: I echo the comments from my noble friends Lord Lansley and Lady Hooper, that of course the Bill, and in particular this part of it, is not about changing policy or procedure but about continuity. I think they are raising points to consider in future trade negotiations. On Amendment 5, it is important to recognise the more important part about SMEs rather than just SME procurement policy. I...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is not unusual in WTO negotiations for the first answer to be no? That is not a surprise. It will not be easy, but we will work together with the WTO over a long period, not just on agricultural projects but on a range of issues. That reinforces the need for a transition period in the Brexit negotiations.
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, I commend my noble friend Lady Verma for tabling this debate and for the very thoughtful report emanating from her and the committee. This has to be taken in conjunction with some of the earlier reports to which she referred, such as the EU Committee’s report on the options for trade. Looking at individual sectors was a very practical way of identifying the real issues relating to...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, I first thank my noble friend Lord Leigh for tabling this important debate. I also welcome my noble friend Lord Gadhia to this House. I have known him for a number of years, and I know that he will be a great addition to this Chamber. His powerful maiden speech highlighted his background, experience and expertise, and what he will bring to this House. Often in these debates we tend...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords—
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: My Lords, my noble friend the Minister is absolutely right to point out that the UK has an improving balance of trade. It is one of the best performing economies in the G7 and the strongest place in the whole of Europe for foreign direct investment. How does he think that may change when we have a shadow Chancellor who—God forbid he should ever get into power—likes to quote Chairman Mao?
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: I refer the noble Lord to the written ministerial statement made on the 26 April 2012 by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on this matter.
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: The total number of new cars registered in the UK in 2013 was 2,476,435. In 2014 the figure was 2,264,737. Data on the country of destination is not held Total registrations are shown by marque. However as these are all registered in the UK, there is no country of destination, as this would only apply to cars exported from the UK. REGISTRATIONS OF NEW CARS IN THE UNITED...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: We have granted two licences for export to Sweden of components for Gripen where Brazil was identified as one of the ultimate end-users.
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: The United Kingdom does not have its own separate trade agreements with Iceland. UK trade relations with Iceland are governed mainly by the 1972 bilateral Free Trade Agreement between Iceland and the EEC, and the agreement on the European Economic Area which entered into force in January 1994. .
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has not carried out any assessment of the benefits or costs of single market legislation to UK companies which do not export to that market.
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: The total number of cars built in UK for export in 2013 was 1,201,395. In 2014 the figure was 1,195,196. A breakdown by marque and destination is not available, although data on the value of UK’s exports of motor cars by destination is published by H M Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The total value of UK car exports in 2013 was £24.4 Billion. In 2014, the total value of UK car exports was...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: We are a not opposed to Ukraine having a free trade agreement with the Russian Federation if it wishes to do so. An Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union has been signed and ratified by both the Ukrainian and European parliaments. The Association Agreement establishes a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), which is due to come into force from 1st January...
Lord Livingston of Parkhead: Ukraine already benefits from autonomous trade preferences which enable most Ukrainian goods to enter the EU market free from import tariffs. In April 2014, the EU unilaterally eliminated or reduced its customs duties on goods originating from Ukraine; for instance, EU import tariffs were removed immediately for 94.7% of industrial products from Ukraine. These autonomous trade preferences...
