Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, it is a special pleasure to follow my noble friend Lord Remnant. His eloquent maiden speech clearly demonstrates his deep expertise in financial services. This should be of no surprise to your Lordships, because the City is truly part of his DNA. I had the pleasure of serving on the board of the Shareholder Executive under my noble friend’s chairmanship, and I have witnessed at...
Draft Cat and Dog Fur (Control of Movement etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022 – Lord Grimstone of Boscobel.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The UK has continuously engaged with the African Group and the Least Developed Countries Group, represented by Tanzania and Bangladesh respectively, throughout the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) debate. A consensus-based agreement on a TRIPS Decision was reached at the World Trade Organisation’s 12th Ministerial Conference, which both groups are eligible to use.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The United Kingdom already has trade deals with 33 Commonwealth nations. In addition, we are negotiating free trade agreements with India, as well as Brunei and Malaysia through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). A further fifteen Commonwealth nations, who qualify as developing nations, will benefit from reduced tariffs under the new Developing Countries Trading Scheme. The United...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Respect for democratic principles and fundamental human rights underpins the United Kingdom–Andean Countries Trade Agreement. The treaty allows for ‘appropriate measures’ to be taken by any member state ‘in accordance with international law’ where breaches occur. The agreement also includes a Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter, which aims to ensure that both Parties...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Goods originating from illegal Israeli settlements are not covered by any United Kindgom trade agreement, so do not receive tariff preferences. Should HMRC have reasonable doubts regarding the origin of an imported good, or suspect that a certificate of origin has been erroneously completed, then a verification of the good’s origin can be requested.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The Government cannot comment on the sensitive detail of live negotiations; however, accession will only take place on terms beneficial to the UK. The UK has a world leading intellectual property regime and will not sign trade deals that compromise it. The Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership sets clear and consistent rules for the intellectual property (IP) sector which...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Supply chain resilience is a priority for HM Government. In October, the Prime Minister appointed Sir Dave Lewis to advise on supply chains and identify both immediate improvements and any necessary long-term changes. We are working to secure the supply chains of the future already, including for critical minerals, by working with like-minded nations around the world. Industry involvement...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The Department for International Trade has staff in more than 100 markets across the world who are helping British businesses in the agriculture, food, and drink sector to trade with the world. HM Government additionally has a dedicated agricultural attaché in the United Arab Emirates, which is a member of the Gulf Co-operation Council, with whom we aim to begin negotiations for a free...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: Supply chain resilience is a priority for HM Government. In October, the Prime Minister appointed Sir Dave Lewis to advise on supply chains and identify both immediate improvements and any necessary long-term changes. We are working to secure the supply chains of the future already, including for critical minerals, by working with like-minded nations around the world. Although not every...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The United Kingdom is strongly committed to our trade and investment relationship with Israel. A public consultation on an enhanced bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Israel was formally launched on 1st February 2022. We are now in the process of analysing the responses we received during this consultation and will publish a formal response to this in due course.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, taken in isolation, the direct impacts on inflation and the cost of living in the United Kingdom will be negligible. The UK imports a very small amount of wheat from India; 88% of the wheat used in the UK is grown here. However, the UK is encouraging all countries to keep their global supply chains open to minimise the global pressure on food costs and, of course, to enhance global...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: The right reverend Prelate makes good points. The cause of the Indian action is the current heatwave in India curtailing wheat production, which is expected to fall for the first time in some years. However, we have had dialogue with them and we are putting pressure on them, because it does no one any good if people shut down their borders in relation to food supply. As for the dire situation...
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, we are indeed working with our G7 partners to bolster the global market and to secure the export of wheat and other grains from Ukraine through grain corridors. I am proud that over 50 WTO members have now supported us in committing to keeping food markets open, predictable and transparent.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: That is an important point, and I will write to the noble Lord giving some background on it.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, we had a good debate on these matters yesterday in the debate on the gracious Speech. We are all working very hard on this. However, noble Lords will appreciate that the scope for direct action on this is limited.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, working together is obviously extremely important in a situation such as this. I will read the report to which the noble Lord refers and take it up.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, as I said earlier, only a very small amount indeed of Indian wheat comes to the UK. Indeed, the majority of production of wheat in India contributes to the domestic market. India produced 109 million tonnes of wheat last year, and of that no less than 90 million was consumed domestically.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, I think that following this Question we have an Urgent Question on food shortages, and that may be the opportunity to go more into the detail on that. Of course, the Government understand and deeply sympathise with the fact that the rising cost of living is making life harder for people. We should all be concerned about that, and we should all look for ways in which to ameliorate that.
Lord Grimstone of Boscobel: My Lords, that is a good point, but I think that the House will appreciate that changing railway gauges is a complex process, which cannot be done in the short term. Let us hope that this conflict does not go on for so long that that becomes the solution.
