I want to write to Lord Berkeley
Lord Berkeley: Does the Minister agree that one of the reasons for these flying schools getting into difficulty is the lack of air navigation aids, which were cancelled when we Brexited? Will she look into reinstating EGNOS or possibly Inmarsat so that not only can more people can learn to fly but so that we can fly to the Hebrides or the Scillies more easily in fog?
Lord Berkeley: ...had put in place “robust plans” to deploy officers. That is useful. Is it not time that we had a contingency plan for e-gates, three years after the Government vowed to take back control of our Brexit borders, rather than relying on the odd person to check your passport manually? Is it not more important to do that than to see the Prime Minister flying off to Dover, putting on a life...
Lord Berkeley: ...the French for everything. Eurostar says that, whoever’s fault it is and at whichever end, it is losing 30% of its traffic because the frontier controls are not working properly, four years after Brexit started. Is it not about time that the British and French Governments got their act together to allow people more free movement without being held up for hours and hours at St Pancras,...
Lord Berkeley: To ask His Majesty's Government how many items of retained EU law they propose to (1) repeal, (2) amend, or (3) replace, as part of the proposed Brexit Freedoms Bill by (a) primary legislation, and (b) secondary legislation, within the remit of the Department for Transport.
Lord Berkeley: ...does not bode well for the poor people who used to work for it. Worse still, it could set a precedent for other competing ferries to do the same thing. It is all to do with the changes brought by Brexit, but we are where we are. I have a few questions, which I am sure will come up again in Committee, but I welcome the Bill, which is a good start. On this business of 120 days, with the...
Lord Berkeley: ...we will return to this, but it was interesting to hear the Minister’s comments at the end in response to the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, about HGVs. Everyone thought that, two years after Brexit, it would all be sorted out. It may be that the railway has got there before the roads, for once. I beg leave to withdraw my amendment. Amendment to the Motion withdrawn. Motion agreed.
Lord Berkeley: ...as my noble friend said, have been based. I am afraid we did not really get an answer from the Minister on why there were so many delays to the legislation. There were lots of them—some caused by Brexit, some international and some domestic. I know of one situation, drawn to my attention by a Cornwall council that wanted to create a new harbour authority there to look after all the...
Lord Berkeley: ...story. In other words, this is damage limitation. The key, to me, is a quote from the Port of Dover on 8 February that said: “Traffic continues to flow smoothly through the Port of Dover post-Brexit transition.” Does that not tell us that there is no problem that needs to be cured? As the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, mentioned, I hope the Minister will assure the House when she...
Lord Berkeley: My Lords, on 10 December I spoke in your Lordships’ House about the Government’s lack of preparedness for Brexit at our ports. In responding, the noble Lord, Lord True, said he did not carry any responsibility for public conveniences on the M20 or in other places. On planning contingencies for what or may or may not happen after 31 December, he said: “I assure the noble Lord that all...
Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what new customs IT systems have been identified by the Border and Protocol Delivery Group as being required from the end of the Brexit transition period; and if any such systems are required, (1) how many of those systems they expect to be fully operational and tested (a) now, (b) from 1 January 2021, and (c) after 1 January 2021; (2) when these systems will...
Lord Berkeley: ..., free movement within the EU has been very important for education, services and other businesses as well as for people getting to know each other. It could easily and should still happen after Brexit, but that needs the Government to support the idea positively and proactively even after we have left. Transport is of course part of mobility. It must be cheap, reliable and accessible....
Lord Berkeley: .... It will also provide the opportunity for government to refinance cost-effectively existing equipment. Of course, for exporters of rail equipment, which we hope will continue and grow after Brexit, the treaty will make manufacturers more competitive, particularly by levelling the playing field against Chinese competition, which many industries fear quite a lot. It will create valuable new...
Lord Berkeley: ..., and then be able to sell them locally. That would be really beneficial to the local economy at this time, when many hill farmers and remote farmers are very concerned about what will happen after Brexit. When the Minister comes to wind up, I hope that he will either agree to this amendment or invite us to a meeting or two and come up with his own suggestions on this small but very...
Lord Berkeley: My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. Does he agree that, for the CMA to do its job properly and enable business to plan in relation to Brexit, the Government must have a robust, updated and properly structured competition policy? I heard what he said, but how will this be achieved? On the latest information I have, the CMA responded with a comprehensive plan on 21 February 2019....
Lord Berkeley: ...is that I live on the Isles of Scilly next to a farm which grows all kinds of vegetables and fruit, and which has pigs, cows and chickens. That farm is really suffering at the moment because of Brexit and transport costs, and the farmer has had to kill most of the pigs and chickens. That is just one example of the problems, mentioned by many noble Lords, of bringing forward this Bill at...
Lord Berkeley: The Minister will be aware that one of the consequences of Brexit is a lot more work heading towards the CMA, something that our EU Internal Market Sub-Committee, chaired by my noble friend Lady Donaghy, is looking at. Is the Minister happy that the CMA will be able to recruit more people to cover the civil aviation issues as well as everything else, or will they be constrained by the usual...
Lord Berkeley: ...'s Government how many cross-Channel transport companies have (1) applied for, and (2) received, Economic Operator Registration and Identification numbers to enable cross-Channel transport after Brexit; and what percentage of cross-Channel unitised transport those companies represent.
Lord Berkeley: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, quoted a senior Ford executive saying that Brexit was entirely to blame, but the Minister seemed to contradict that completely. Either one of two different Ford executives is lying or somebody has misunderstood something, because those statements are complete opposites. On closing Bridgend, which is a terribly sad occasion, has Ford indicated whether it...
Lord Berkeley: ...is as much a problem of attitudes in France to operating anything in France that has not been developed in France. We have a problem in this country, because these corridors go back long before Brexit was even thought about. I have always detected a reticence in successive Ministers of the Department for Transport to encourage the principle of through-running trains, because they thought...
Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the E111 European Health Insurance Card will be valid after 29 March in the event of (1) their present exit plan being agreed, (2) a no-deal Brexit, (3) the UK remaining in the Single Market, (4) the UK remaining in a customs union, and (5) the UK remaining in the EU.