Speeches by Thomas-Symonds.

“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…”

“This is on UK-France, is it?”

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

“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 …”

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

“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,…”

“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.…”

“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 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…”

“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…”

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

“First, it was a manifesto commitment. For us, though, it is particularly crucial—it a huge priority. In the Common Understanding, we had a recognition of the importance of this issue going forward in enabling us to continue to push this for the annual summit. We have not set a date for the annual summit in 2026 yet, bu…”

“Indeed it is. I think I was given a figure when I was there of 400,000 British visitors a year, so it will certainly help them on their visits to Sofia.”

“Obviously, it is within the competence of the member states as to the decisions they take, and I could not guarantee something that is outside my control. What I can say is that, whether at the FCDO or in the work I do at the Cabinet Office, we will continue to press at as many ports as we can for the easiest possible …”

“I am quite happy to write to the Committee on the number of countries, but 50 passenger ports across Europe have opened their e-gates to British travellers. Since the agreement of 19 May and since the clarification from the EU, I have been able to go and open e-gates to British nationals in particular parts of Europe; …”

“Our priority on this now is what we have agreed with the EU. What we have agreed is across food and drink. There will have to be legislation on that. The focus at the moment is implementing what we have agreed. We are taking a decision as a sovereign nation that we are a high-standards jurisdiction. We are aligning wit…”

“I am sure you will. I have talked about getting the SPS agreement—the food and drink agreement—into effect by 2027. I have talked about implementing it in the early part of 2027 so that we can actually see the benefit of it. It will be hugely important. To give an example, an export health certificate costs £200 per co…”

“Let me pick up on a number of aspects of that. First, it is important that we have annual summits, because those will enable these issues and the particular milestones that will drive progress to be raised. That is hugely important. What the Prime Minister was talking about are particular issues where we certainly want…”

“It is a pleasure to appear before you all today. I am sorry that you are not at full complement, but I completely understand why. It is great to come, and I am very pleased, Chair, that you are taking the interest that you are with the inquiry that you are undertaking. I very much look forward to seeing in due course y…”

“I am Nick Thomas-Symonds, Minister for European Union relations in the Cabinet Office. I have obviously been responsible for leading the negotiations and continue to be.”