Subsidy Control Bill — House of Lords, 2022-01-19
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Martin Callanan (Conservative, Centre-right): It would depend on a number of factors, and whether the subsidy complies with the set of basic principles that we outlined earlier under the UK regime. But under the current system—and obviously negotiations are ongoing—and if it was for a good, then the operation in Norther Ireland would be subject to the EU state aid regime because Northern Ireland is subject to that under the current terms of the protocol. If my interpretation is not correct, I will write to the noble Lord I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Randerson, that devolved Administrations, as primary public authorities, can also set up schemes for use by other public authorities where that is within their existing functions and powers. For example, the Welsh Government are perfectly within their rights to set up a scheme, if they wish, that can be used and accessed by all local authorities in Wales I move on to the role of the CMA and the subsidy advice unit. I agree wholeheartedly with my noble friend Lord Lamont, who noted the importance of independent oversight and robust scrutiny of our new regime. The subsidy advice unit will have an important advisory role for a relatively small number of cases, and an overall monitoring role for the system as a whole. Most subsidies granted are low risk, so it is right that the unit’s focus should be on the small number of subsidies with a greater likelihood of causing distortion in the market. The subsidy advice unit will provide advice that is genuinely useful to public authorities in designing their subsidies and assessing against their regimes’ requirements. This strikes the right balance between improved freedom for public authorities while providing confidence to interested parties, investors and the general public My noble friend also raised the issue of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. I can assure him that the regime will be robustly enforced through this UK judicial system, with the Competition Appeal Tribunal hearing judicial reviews of the award of a subsidy or the making of a subsidy scheme. The Competition Appeal Tribunal is UK-wide, has extensive expertise in the related area of competition law and is well suited to hearing challenges to the award of subsidies. In our view, the roles afforded to the Competition Appeal Tribunal and to the new subsidy advice unit will foster a regime that is robust, while empowering public authorities to deliver subsidies more quickly, more easily and more flexibly if that is what they choose to do A number of noble Lords, including the noble Lords, Lord German and Lord Bruce, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bryan, raised the issue of the inclusion of agriculture. In our view, the inclusion of agriculture and fisheries subsidies will help to protect competition and investment in these sectors in the UK. This position was supported by the majority of the respondents to the UK Government’s consultation who answered the question on agriculture and fisheries. Although agriculture and fisheries subsidies are not in scope of the subsidy control provisions in the UK-EU TCA, they are still subject to other international rules. The proposed approach will provide consistency for granting authorities while retaining sufficient flexibility for the devolved Administrations and all public authorities to deliver support where it is needed and how they see fit, given their responsibilities.