argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: International Affairs
Robert Skidelsky (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I hope your Lordships will forgive me for not speculating about what this measure will bring forth: it is too long and the time too short. Instead, I will use my meagre ration of minutes to advance two historical reflections. The first concerns the law of unintended consequences. David Cameron’s clever tactic was to promise a referendum in 2015 to dish Mr Farage and to keep Britain in the EU; the unintended outcome was Brexit. The moral of this is pretty obvious: do not sacrifice your long-term strategic goal to short-term practices The second, deeper reflection concerns the "cunning of reason". When Hegel wrote that the owl of Minerva flies at dusk, he meant that the direction of history is evident only after the event. In retrospect, one can see a kind of inevitability about Britain’s separation, not from Europe—a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Robertson—but from a particular institutional expression of Europe: the European Union. As such, the question is not just about Britain’s future relationship with the EU, the subject of this debate, but the future of the EU itself. A few years ago, Wolfgang Schäuble, then German Finance Minister, talked about "variable geometry" and a "multi-speed" Europe—but it may be more accurate to think of the EU going in different directions rather than in the same direction at different speeds. A core of Germanic countries will push for full integration or federalism, and a Mediterranean group will choose more flexible arrangements to preserve crucial areas of national autonomy, such as control over their own currency. I think this is the direction Europe will go, and, if that is so, historians may well see Britain’s leaving not as a breach of a solid structure but as an episode in the reshaping of Europe. The leavers instinctively sensed the flight of the owl; the remainers did not.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Foreign Trade
Donald Curry (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, my interests are as recorded in the register. There is no question of the importance and lasting consequences of this agreement. It is eminently preferable to have a deal and a close working relationship with our neighbours in Europe than to have no deal, so I congratulate the Government on the agreement I welcome the Government’s efforts to ensure that temporary workers can continue to come and work in the United Kingdom and benefit our economy. We rely on seasonal workers in the agricultural and horticultural sectors, as the Minister is well aware. We also rely on vets from the EU in our abattoirs—indeed, a Lords environment committee report confirmed that 90% of slaughterhouse vets were EU nationals. Can the Minister confirm that seasonal workers and vets will continue to be able to work in the United Kingdom within the terms of the agreement and say how this relates to the Government’s immigration policy and the proposed points-based system I would like further clarity on the independent body that the Government are required to set up to monitor domestic competition law and state aid rules. Further details on whether this is to be a new body or whether the Government intend to revise the powers of an existing body would be welcome Finally, I am interested in how the Government intend to respond to the country of origin requirement in the agreement. I fully understand why this has been included in the deal: to prevent back-door, tariff-free imports into the European Union. Does the Minister agree that this is a unique opportunity for the UK to re-energise its manufacturing base, including primary production of food, so that, in complying with the agreement, we are able to export from a growing production and manufacturing industry in the United Kingdom? The weakness of our manufacturing base was embarrassingly exposed when in crisis. We had to pay exorbitant prices for PPE at the start of the pandemic. Can the Minister confirm that the Government will encourage domestic manufacturing and production so that not only can we export within the rules but look forward to an age when we at home can purchase home-produced goods instead of relying on a "Made in China" label, and how they intend to do this?
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: International Affairs
Indarjit Singh (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, the Sikh religion, formed at a time of religious and regional conflict, emphasises the equality and interdependence of all humanity. Today, with new concerns about global warming and climate change, closer co-operation with those we once viewed with suspicion is more important than ever. Boasts that we have secured freedom from foreign influence and have taken back control of our money, borders, laws, trade and waters simply remind me of the dated hype of Shakespeare’s John of Gaunt: "This happy breed of men, this little world … this earth, this realm, this England." However, I congratulate the Government on keeping some of the benefits, such as tariff-free trade, of a club that we have now left. Does the Minister agree that, from our position of independence, we should now look to even greater and closer co-operation with Europe and others for the benefit of all in our inter-dependent world?
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Technology
Alec Broers (Crossbench, Unknown): It is a privilege to follow the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, and I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wharton of Yarm, on his appropriate and concise maiden speech If the UK is to remain a major industrial nation, we will have to sustain our competitiveness in the advancement of some, if not all, of the hard technologies that underpin medicine, agriculture, transport, information technology, communications, control systems and power generation. Progress in hard technologies is driven by international competition; it is rare that single nations or companies possess everything that is necessary Modern communications allow collaboration across international borders, and this capability must be harnessed to be competitive. Success almost always relies on the exchange of people. The easiest way to transfer new ideas is through exchange between the people who come up with the ideas and those who use them. The closer the collaboration, the better. Our nearest neighbours are in Europe, and we have enjoyed working with them to sustain, for example, our aerospace, automobile and IT and communications industries Erasmus has been a major force for good in these exchanges of researchers; it is two-way and includes not only students but university staff and those undertaking vocational and continuing education. Its loss is potentially very dangerous, as mentioned by many others in this debate, and the Turing scheme as presently proposed will not be an adequate replacement. If our advancement of these crucial technologies is to succeed, the Turing scheme will have to be either expanded to include two-way exchange and this broader group of people or complemented by other schemes that do this. It should be noted that students coming to the UK will produce income that will offset the cost of sending our students abroad.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Foreign Trade
John Seymour (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, while some of the many deleterious effects of this trade deal have been mentioned, I wish to try to be positive and make a success of our new relationship, perhaps even harbouring a faint hope that softer attitudes will prevail once the dust settles We can regain some of the respect so casually lost in recent months by making a success of our industries. For instance, in farming—I declare my interest as a farmer—there are some good results buried in the deal. We can push on to combat climate change and conserve our natural capital. We can sell tariff and quota free, although not without much bureaucracy. Goods will be subject to rules of origin so that produce will not qualify if ingredients from third countries are included. We can turn that to our advantage by using more of our own homegrown grains and meats Access to EU markets will be conditional on keeping to EU standards. We are in a good place to lead on that and must resist trade deals that seek to diminish animal, food or environmental standards. There must be no regression on this. The Government have secured 32 trading agreements with partner countries, many simply rolled over, but these represent over 90% of the value of the UK food and drink export trade and allow preferential access I personally regret the biggest loss in Brexit, that of human movement, but at least we now know that the much-needed seasonal worker visas will be expanded to 30,000 and for a further year—small beer but much better than the no deal we were threatened with. We must remember that our young people, having grown up with the expectation of being able to work in Europe, are now trapped, insular and isolated Let us be clear: this deal is a second-best outcome, and Brexit remains a historic own goal for the UK economy and its people. But let us make a success of it, as best we can.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
John Birt (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, in 1945, Clement Attlee seized the moment and created the welfare state. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher rose to the challenge of superinflation, industrial strife and a broken economy In 2021, we face equally mighty challenges. As a nation, we are divided as rarely before. The union is under threat not only in Scotland but now, I suspect, with its new and unique status, in Northern Ireland too. Our public services are still depleted from the impact on the public sector of the 2008 financial shock. After a half-century of underinvestment, we have the worst transport infrastructure of any developed economy. We face massive housing shortages in both the public and private sectors. We have skill shortages at every level of the economy, from fruit pickers to roofers to data scientists. Yet the OBR’s November pull-together of the views of external forecasters such as the World Bank, the IMF and the OECD indicated that, with a trade deal of the kind just signed, the UK can expect a long-term reduction in GDP of 4% versus the current trend. Moreover, the pandemic will leave us with a debt mountain to clear, and we face the monumental task of meeting our net-zero goal We now need to put Britain back on its feet again. That will need considered, grounded, long-term policies, engagement and consensus building. That will all take a very long time indeed. We are in for a long haul.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: International Affairs
David Hugh Alexander Hannay (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, since our marathon first debate on the UK’s Christmas Eve agreement with the EU last week, two things have happened: the agreement has entered into force and the UK has given effect to the provisions in domestic law. However inadequate one may believe it to be, as I do, it is water under the bridge, but there are plenty of loose ends remaining to tie up in the short term and some important policy choices to make in the medium to long term Two of the most important short-term challenges are financial services and data exchanges. On both, serious economic consequences will flow from whether the EU recognises the UK’s equivalence. Can the Minister assure the House that, in both cases, the Government will do everything they can to secure that equivalence? Do they recognise and accept that the more we seek to diverge from the EU—in practice, not just in theory—the less likely we are to achieve equivalence In the medium to long term, the big choice is surely whether we treat the present agreement as a ceiling, above which we do not seek to rise, or as a floor, on which other areas of co-operation, so far neglected, could be built. Which is it to be? Foremost among such areas, I suggest proper structures for co-operation on foreign and security policies, where we need to work with the EU institutions that take decisions in this field, as well as bilaterally with the member states, if we are not to drift towards irrelevance and lose influence. What is the Government’s thinking on this On student exchanges, the deplorable decision to turn our backs on Erasmus+ remains unexplained in any detail. Why, for example, do most other non-EU European countries find it of value? What can we do to restore reciprocal exchanges in this field, which Turing does not do? The fact is that we are at the beginning of a long and arduous journey of building our new partnership with our erstwhile EU partners, not strolling effortlessly through the sunlit uplands.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Macroeconomics
Mervyn King (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, for five years, many claims have been made about the economic consequences of Brexit. Unfortunately, I fear that hyperbole has outrun reason. Although none of us can be certain, my own judgment is that the long-run economic effects of Brexit are likely to be small. Just as joining the Common Market did not transform the British economy, nor will leaving the EU significantly change the path of the economy as a whole. The passions aroused by the Brexit debate have been out of all proportion to the likely economic consequences. As a result, for five years we have ignored the real economic challenges facing our country Just one example is the need to invest more. In the decade after the financial crisis, the UK invested 16% of our GDP—well below the average for other advanced economies. If we are to invest more, we have to finance that investment, either at home, or from abroad. We are already borrowing heavily from overseas, as reflected in the substantial current account deficit, which has been running at almost 4.5% of GDP. We will therefore need to save more. But in recent years, as a proportion of our national income, Britain has saved less than any other country in the G20—less than Argentina and less than Brazil Brexit is not the cause of our economic problems, nor is it the answer to them. With the agreement in place, now is the time to turn our attention to the real problems of the UK economy, and that should be a role for this House in the coming year.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Foreign Trade
Rajinder Paul Loomba (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I welcome the certainty and stability that the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement brings to businesses and individuals alike. The Government have achieved a truly remarkable feat in agreeing a deal that maintains tariff and quota-free trade with the EU—a first for a third-country deal with the EU Throughout the delicate course of the negotiations we have had many descriptions of what a deal might look like, from an Australian one to a Canadian-style one, to the worst-case scenario of no deal and WTO trading terms. But what we have in the TCA is a truly remarkable and unique deal that befits our special relationship with our friends in the European Union. As we move forward as an independent sovereign nation, it also gives us an opportunity to trade with many other countries in the world. I believe that the UK and India are currently negotiating a trade and business agreement worth about £100 billion. That cannot be bad.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: International Affairs
Peter Ricketts (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, one of the most mystifying gaps in the agreement is the absence of any provision for co-operation on foreign policy and defence, which the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, also touched on. These are areas where Britain was highly influential as a member state. We were often able to increase the impact of our policies by lining up the EU behind them. The EU wanted a continuing partnership in this area, and it was in British interests to do that, yet the Government refused any discussion. Perhaps the Minister can explain why He might reassure us that Britain will rely on bilateral links, especially with France and Germany. Of course, these will remain important, but let us remember that the primary loyalty of both Berlin and Paris will be to policies decided in the EU. Those policies will have an impact on this country; we should be influencing them. British Ministers will not have the time to lobby each EU member state separately. The right answer, surely, is to have regular, structured consultations with the EU on foreign and security policy. If that is too much to contemplate at this time, will the Minister tell us whether the Government will take up President Macron’s proposal for a European security council outside the EU as a forum for European countries, including Britain, to consult on foreign policy In my remaining seconds, I will add my voice to those of others who have underlined the plight of people in an industry that is of huge importance to our soft power overseas—that is, musicians and performing artists. In his opening speech, the Minister accepted that the Government had failed to secure reciprocal visa-free access for musicians. That will have a major impact on the sector. For example, the capacity of our great orchestras to tour in Europe will be gravely damaged by a combination of the need for a work permit for each country they visit, complex and expensive customs arrangements, and limits on road haulage. Will the Minister confirm that the Government will work to reduce the burdens on this sector, which is worth four times more to the British economy than fisheries?
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Education
Frances D'Souza (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, I make no apology for returning to the Erasmus scheme. The Minister’s Answer earlier this week to a Question from the noble Baroness, Lady Garden, was less than satisfactory. He advanced two main arguments justifying the UK’s departure from the scheme. The first was that continued full membership would cost more than the expected income from the programme. There have been almost twice as many European participants to the UK in 2019. This should be a cause for soft power celebration. The additional cost to the Treasury was estimated at £2 million. In the grand scheme of things, this is not an exorbitant sum for creating opportunities for young people at the beginning of their careers to exchange ideas across international borders and to forge long-term friendships; 53% of all those UK students abroad were funded by the Erasmus scheme. The dividends from this kind of co-operation outweigh the yearly cost of our membership. It has been estimated that the true profit from Erasmus is in the region of £243 million per annum The second argument put forward by the Government is that, unlike the proposed Turing scheme, Erasmus is not truly international. Well, the 2019 Erasmus programme reports almost 1 million participant students working with 111 organisations on 25,000 projects throughout Europe and with non-EU partners from around the world. The proposed Turning programme, apart from its name, is a poor substitute, and is what others have termed "a small-minded move". It is another national mobility scheme and no equal to the multilateral, multifaceted, reciprocal Erasmus scheme, our departure from which will adversely affect universities and the taxpayer. It is to be hoped that the Government might reconsider its decision when the UK’s membership of the Erasmus programme comes to an end later this year.
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement — House of Lords, 2021-01-08
Topic: Foreign Trade
Karan Bilimoria (Crossbench, Unknown): My Lords, the annus horribilis of 2020 drew to a close. As I stated in the Sun, "what an important achievement this zero-tariff deal has been. Business wanted to leave the EU on good terms. And after four-and-a-half years of wrangling, my reaction to the Christmas Eve deal was: ‘Hallelujah!’" The deal was a prize. As I said in the same article: "No deal would have been very pricey for us all as 54 per cent of our imports come from Europe. The cost of food in supermarkets could have risen between three and five per cent while cars would have become more expensive under WTO tariffs." Both the UK Government and the European Union deserve huge congratulations. As I stated in a This is Money article: "This is a big step and a mighty relief for many firms. With a trade deal agreed, vaccine roll-outs starting and rapid mass testing, this can be a springboard to make 2021 a year of recovery. Importantly, a deal provides a platform on which to build and strengthen the UK-EU relationship in the years to come." As Tony Danker, director-general of the CBI, said, "it is vital that both sides take instant steps to keep trade moving and services flowing while firms adjust." Matthew Fell, Chief UK Policy Director for the CBI, said: "It’s incumbent on both sides to minimise disruption and keep goods moving as businesses get to grips with the changes" Tony Danker also said that "we need urgent confirmation of grace periods to smooth the cliff edge", while Matthew Fell went on: "Authorities can help by relying on pragmatism rather than penalties. Honest mistakes should be coached, not penalised in the coming weeks … Greater regulatory cooperation on financial services and mutual recognition of professional qualifications, are just two business-critical issues that will make a material difference. Over the coming weeks and months, it’s vital that government and business work closely to shape the new relationship with the EU and ensure the UK remains a competitive, dynamic and innovative economy." I was delighted to hear that Michael Gove’s Brexit business task force will continue to operate; that is excellent. We also welcome the fact that the deal paves the way for UK participation in Horizon Europe, but it does not contain provisions for the Erasmus programme between 2021 and 2027. There are concerns within the sector about whether the new Turing scheme can fully replicate the benefits of Erasmus, particularly due to the new scheme having no provisions for inward student mobility or staff placements. Can the Minister reassure us As I said in the Sun: "We’ve got lots to look forward to … Now is our time to shine … What’s important is that this agreement has never been about the EU versus Britain. Our wealth and prosperity depends upon them and vice versa … now is the time for the Government to seize opportunities. A trade deal means nothing unless British companies are able to make the most of it." This is just the beginning—let us make the most of it.