James Duddridge Local Member of Parliament for Rochford and Southend East seeks reassurances from Dr. Liam Fox Secretary of State for International Trade about Trade Remedies Authority post Brexit.
James Duddridge, MP for Rochford and Southend East, spoke in the House of Commons on Tuesday 9th January during a debate on the Trade Bill. He spoke about the EU referendum result, in which over 60% of his constituency voted to leave the EU. He also asked the Secretary of State for International Trade, Dr Liam Fox, about the new trade bodies that would be established to support British trade after the UK leaves the European Union in March 2019.
James asked:
“The good burghers of Southend will be glad that the Secretary of State is delivering the Brexit that they supported wholeheartedly. Will he confirm that the Trade Remedies Authority will be wholly independent? Will he give us an indication of how quickly some of the detail will come together once the Bill is enacted? What forms of consultation will there be on how to set up the Trade Remedies Authority, given that we have so little experience of trade remedies other than through the EU?”
Dr Liam Fox said:
“As my hon. Friend knows, detail on the implementation of the Trade Remedies Authority will be in secondary legislation subsequent to the passing of the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Bill, which we debated in this House last night. The Trade Bill merely creates the framework for creating the Trade Remedies Authority, which will be an arm’s length authority. These issues are often commercially sensitive and market sensitive, so it is important that we are seen not to have overt political intervention. Likewise, if we want to be WTO compliant, we have to be as transparent as possible. We will want to consult further, but we want to set out the details as soon as possible. Closely related to that is the Bill’s fourth aim. We want to enable HMRC to collect and share essential data on the United Kingdom’s trade flows, which will enable DIT and bodies such as the Trade Remedies Authority to perform essential trade functions such as providing evidence to WTO panels that rule on trade disputes. It will also provide a vital insight into our export performance during our development of trade policy.”
