I want to write to Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...a 29 March departure is simply not going to happen. What we are witnessing, to the mystification of observers here and abroad, is a wholly divided Government and a Prime Minister who has let down Brexit voters by failing to provide the promised “smooth and orderly” departure to get the very best out of leaving—a Prime Minister who has unnerved the very businesses which have...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for repeating the Statement on Brexit, which is clearly high on everyone’s agenda. I have sat beside my noble friend Lady Smith of Basildon on previous occasions when she has rightly described the Government as, “living in the moment ... managing to get through another week …providing less clarity rather than more … failing to give any confidence...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...that our Government do not seem to know what is happening in their own industries. Mike Cherry of the FSB also mentioned part of the reason for their dismay. He asked how, two and a half years from Brexit, politicians could allow a situation whereby small businesses have no idea what environment they will be faced with on Brexit day, in less than 10 weeks’ time. We have already heard...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: My Lords, considering the lessons of the Brexit debate, the CER’s Charles Grant starts with a dig—although it might have been a compliment—at the noble Lord, Lord Kerr. He describes Article 50 as having been, “designed to put the departing country in a weak position”, but he then reckons that, “the British damaged their already weak hand by putting incompetent and ignorant...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the implications of a no-deal Brexit on current recipients of EU Structural Funds.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they will take to implement their proposed Shared Prosperity Fund in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...Enders, CEO of Airbus—which has 14,000 skilled workers, plus 110,000 in the supply chain—says that the company could pull out of the UK if there is no deal, and begs us not to, “listen to the Brexiteers’ madness which asserts that, because we have huge plants here, we will not move and we will always be here. They are wrong”. Business Minister Richard Harrington described the...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...am sure that the Minister has been briefed that, as early as 13 February 2017, I had cause to write to his predecessor at the department, the noble Lord, Lord Prior, about the lack of meetings on Brexit with consumer representatives. Given that lack of engagement, on 22 March 2017, the chief executives of Citizens Advice and Which?, together with Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com,...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...it the recognition of legal judgments or—as in this case—the cross-border protection of consumer rights. It is an issue which, sadly, has been lacking throughout the Government’s approach to Brexit. We will have a longer debate on that tomorrow, when the Minister will also be replying, so perhaps I will just give him notice of one of the things I shall say then, which is to note the...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...with third countries—a mythical future ignoring the protectionist “America first” tendencies of the US President. The PM wasted two years negotiating with her own party. She put blinkered Brexiteers in charge, who rejected all evidence at variance with their ideological obsession. Labour’s alternative—we have spelled it out—is a customs union.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: .... But that is little comfort, not just because Labour would have to rebuild the economy but because of the damage to public trust in democracy, especially among leave voters who genuinely believe Brexit would improve, not damage, their families’ lives and futures, as my noble friend Lord Liddle suggested. The deal fails to unite the country, and that is the result of the Government’s...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...and were able to lead straightaway to an election, so other votes are now awaited. We need votes in the other House on the withdrawal deal and a vote on this Government for their mishandling of Brexit, the NHS waiting lists, the universal credit shambles and much else besides. Will the Minister perhaps undertake to this House to advise Mrs May that the correct way forward for a Prime...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave When first we practise to deceive!”. I am not talking about the figure on the bus but the Brexiteers’—and the Government’s—mantra that withdrawing from nearly half a century of an alliance would be “smooth and orderly”; this has even been repeated today. Indeed, so often did Ministers—the noble Lord, Lord Bridges, at the time—repeat...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their advice in the No Deal Technical Guidance, Taking your pet abroad if there’s no Brexit Deal, published on 24 September, what progress they have made in their discussions with the EU on pet passports; and what advice they plan to provide to owners by the end of November.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the letter from the Members of the Interparliamentary Forum on Brexit to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster dated 29 October; and when they intend to respond to that letter and its conclusion that the Joint Ministerial Committee mechanism is not fit for purpose.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with each EU member state regarding the impact on UK and EU trade of a no deal Brexit scenario in relation to cross border insolvency.
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: My Lords, since we know that Brexit is valued by the Government at only 50p—which is what they are going to produce on exit day—the question just raised about the WTO schedules is vital. We understand that only 14 of the deals that we have as part of the EU have so far been rolled over. The prospect of the crisis if we crash out without a deal is so serious that is it not time that the...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...or investment fall. Rather, as we heard, voters were promised a stronger economy, money for the NHS, the exact same benefits and sunny, sunny uplands. The Government getting it wrong in the Brexit negotiations is letting down Brexit voters even more than remainers, who never expected anything good from us leaving. In addressing the Motion, I start with the possibility of no deal. I would...
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...news”, those who attack it are doing so to undermine the words that civil servants say. When the Minister reaffirms the independence of the Civil Service, as I am sure he will, will he urge those Brexiteers to play the ball and not the man?
Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town: ...of co-operation, recognition of judgments and lack of enforcement. We are talking about families—families who are divorcing, dividing assets or arguing over custody of their children. Some Brexiteers may say that no deal is perfectly bearable, probably because they will not suffer the costs. It will be families that take the hit if the negotiators fail in their task, or give in to...