Speeches by Thomas-Symonds.

“I have only about seven minutes left. I will give way to both Members, but I will have to do so quickly.”

“Quite simply it is because, to secure further agreements, the United Kingdom has to show good faith with the agreements it has already signed. The Windsor framework had cross-party support. We voted for it in opposition, so we have to show good faith in implementing it. However, there will come a point when we can redu…”

“I would certainly be interested in learning more about that specific case. If the hon. Gentleman wants to write to me about it, I will happily look into it.”

“I will certainly be visiting Northern Ireland again. However, on the diversion of trade, that is precisely what the independent monitoring panel is currently looking at. The panel is looking at it for the earlier part of this year, and I expect it to report shortly. Of course, when the panel makes recommendations, wher…”

“My message to that business is probably the same as I would give to a number of different sectors. I think what you are referring to is the issue about mutual recognition of conformity assessments. One of the reasons we have the annual summit process is for businesses exactly like the trailer business you have referred…”

“First of all, may I challenge the premise of your question? Far from giving away control, this Government are exercising control, and indeed exercising control on the independent trade policy. Let me give an example. In the same month, we secured an FTA with India—to be fair, Boris Johnson, the previous Prime Minister,…”

“Thank you all very much for a very good, and good-natured, session. It is much appreciated.  ”

“Just to answer off the top of my head, I find it very difficult to see how we can recover much of that. I am more than happy to steer back and have a discussion about whether any of it could be, of course—it is important value for money for taxpayers—but the reality is that the ruthlessly pragmatic approach that we hav…”

“We are now going to negotiate the legal text, but the general framework is that first, yes, we are going to need legislation. I have said that before; I think I said it in an earlier answer, Sir John. It is critical that we do that. Again, I will welcome the debate, when we come to it, as we take that through Parliamen…”

“It is not a price; it is an economic benefit. It is a strong economic benefit. You are perfectly reasonable to put that argument, but you have to front up about the consequences of it in terms of costs to businesses and to consumers in terms of the price of food and drink. I welcome that debate. I gave a speech only a …”

“We will sign up to align on those standards, and it is our sovereign choice to do so. You asked me specifically about rule shaping. As I say, it is participatory. You will have access to things like data, and be able to participate in discussions around the development of the rules. I am not being defensive about this.…”

“In terms of the UK-France arrangement, it is a pilot. If you pilot something and it is regarded as being successful in its objectives, then clearly it can be scaled up. That is the nature of a pilot. The European Commission has given the green light to that pilot, so it has that going forward. What we obviously want to…”

“In any such circumstance, I will bear in mind the position of the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.”

“Do I envisage relying on it? Well, I do not anticipate that, but I obviously cannot say 100%, because I do not know particular urgent situations that might arise, given that the context of that treaty was in irregular migration. However, I hope that you will take from the tenor of my answer that my general tendency is …”

“I will let Stephen come in on UK- France, because obviously there are very particular circumstances to do with that treaty—”

“This is on UK-France, is it?”

“I entirely agree that it is your job to scrutinise. I am a huge respecter of Parliament; I have always loved Parliament and come to be held to account. On these negotiations, it is a question of balancing. You are absolutely right that to say, “Look at the pressure in Parliament about X, Y, Z,” can be helpful, but in m…”

“First of all, I welcome scrutiny. One thing I have discovered in this role, given how multi-faceted it is, is the number of Select Committees, of both Houses, I find myself before. It is quite a range, I have to say, but it is a delight to join the Committee for this session. Whether it is parliamentary questions or st…”

“No. We are operating what I call a hub-and-spoke model in Government. Obviously, I sit at the hub in the Cabinet Office, and I have to take the final decisions on the trade-offs in the negotiations—that has to happen in one place—but we rely on the expertise of the different Departments. I haven’t been familiar with th…”

“I am an optimist in life, and I genuinely think that we can. As I always say about this, when we came into Government, we delivered the Common Understanding within 10 months, which was not bad going, so having had one experience of very intense negotiation, I am at least confident we can get there again—absolutely.”