Speeches by Edwards.

“Andy, I will ask you the same question. Do you have confidence in this UK-US deal?”

“I was just wondering whether you have thought about what changes there might need to be to the UK’s approach to the digital regulation aspects with the US to be able to reach a deal. Jonathan, might we have to make any compromises? Are we on the back foot on some of these areas?”

“Sabina, do you have any thoughts about what changes the UK might have to make to meet the standard that the US may expect us to do?”

“David, the Committee was just admiring a diagram that the NFU produced on FTAs from agreement in principle to ratification, which is a very complicated process. As we are still going through that, what red lines should the UK Government have when continuing these negotiations with the US?”

“Thank you. Paul, did you have anything that you wanted to add on any red lines? We have explored some of that, but is there anything that you wanted to add on these ongoing negotiations?”

“David, do you have any concerns at the moment about UK food and animal welfare standards and whether they could be impacted by this deal more widely?”

“If we look beyond beef and ethanol, are there any other agricultural sectors that raise any concerns with you in these continued negotiations?”

“Do you have any red lines for your sector?”

“George, is the supply chain able to take advantage of lower tariffs under this deal? Do you have other concerns?”

“Perhaps I could pick up on that point. What do you think about the supply chain? Are those firms at risk from this type of announcement? Are they ready to take advantage of this deal, if we can get beyond this hump? Do you have concerns about that as well?”

“George, how do you feel about the deal?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow (Ms Creasy) and the hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Richard Tice) on securing this important debate. I am delighted to join my parliamentary colleagues in celebrating the new agreement that our Gov…”

“That’s great—that is one of our strengths. You have given us some really good examples. Are there other things the Government could be doing? You said that money might be a bit of a challenge; what other things could the Government do to help with the competitiveness side?”

“I will do my best.”

“Let me put another question that picks up on the point that you just made: we have heard very useful information from Boston Consulting Group, which has looked at the estimates for how much capital investment will be needed in various sectors—between £363 billion and £583 billion in additional capital to meet the growt…”

“Henrik, do you want to comment?”

“To pick up on that point, when you came to the Committee in 2022, Paul, you said that the funding specifically had paled in comparison with other rivals. Does that remain your view, and if so, why?”

“I want to build on the challenges around supply chains. I will ask the whole panel to comment on this. We know that supply chains are vulnerable. How do you monitor the situation across that? Does that sit with your board, or with some person within the company who has that responsibility? How do you manage the monitor…”

“Potentially, defence is naturally slightly more alive to that type of risk. Trevor, what do you think about the monitoring success?”

“Did anybody else want to add anything to that before I move on?”