Thursday Volume 648 25 October 2018 No. 195 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Thursday 25 October 2018 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2018 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 413 25 OCTOBER 2018 Oral Answers 414 Dominic Raab: The hon. Lady is right to raise this House of Commons issue,not least because Government and the pharmaceutical industry already liaise on stockpiling for far longer Thursday 25 October 2018 periods in other circumstances, including in relation to vaccines. Wewill keep it under review,but this is something The House met at half-past Nine o’clock the industry is used to doing and we are used to co-operating with it. PRAYERS Sandy Martin: In September, the Borders Delivery Group reported that 11 of the 12 major projects to [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] replace or change key IT systems were at risk of not being delivered on time or in a workable condition. Many of my constituents who work at the port of Oral Answers to Questions Felixstowe are at their wits’ end about how this is going to work. Can the Secretary of State tell us what is going to be done with those IT systems? EXITING THE EUROPEAN UNION Dominic Raab: We had an extended Cabinet session last month. We looked at a whole range of action points The Secretary of State was asked— right across the piece, including some of the IT issues to No Deal: UK Border Delays which the hon. Gentleman refers. We want to make sure we are in the best position to manage, avoid or mitigate 1. Gerald Jones (Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney) (Lab): any risk in a no-deal scenario, but of course we are What assessment he has made of the potential for UK striving for the best deal with our European partners. border delays in the event that no deal is agreed for when the UK leaves the EU. [907258] Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con): A very significant number of automotive parts enter the 6. Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab): UK and the European Union from third countries for What assessment he has made of the potential for UK just-in-time delivery. It seems to work, doesn’t it? border delays in the event that no deal is agreed for when the UK leaves the EU. [907264] Dominic Raab: My right hon. Friend will know that 7. Sandy Martin (Ipswich) (Lab): What assessment he that is one of the reasons the White Paper proposals has made of the potential for UK border delays in the deal with the kind of customs arrangements and event that no deal is agreed for when the UK leaves co-operation with our EU partners which will not just the EU. [907265] prevent friction at the border, but, particularly in relation to just-in-time manufacturers, provide them with the The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union frictionless trade they need. (Dominic Raab): The Government have published 106 technical notices addressing the no-deal scenario. Sir Patrick McLoughlin (Derbyshire Dales) (Con): We are striving for a good deal with our European Can we be absolutely sure that, should this House reject Union partners, but we will be ready for all outcomes a deal brought back by the Government, we will still from the negotiations. leave the European Union on 29 March, and that those who vote against that deal will be responsible for no Gerald Jones: Recent National Audit Office estimates deal? state that if customs declarations are required for trading between the UK and the EU, the total number of Dominic Raab: My right hon. Friend raises, responsibly declarations could increase by about 360%, from 55 million and assiduously, the stark reality of those who would currently on non-EU trade to 225 million. What estimate seek to wreck the deal, as the Labour party leadership has the Minister made of the additional staff that will has suggested, come what may. Every hon. Member of be required and, not least, the likely tailbacks that could this House will have a choice to make between the good ensue at UK ports? deal we are confident we will bring back and the alternatives. Dominic Raab: There certainly is a risk of no deal, especially if the EU engages in a deliberately intransigent Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con): approach. The hon. Gentleman asks about staff. We are Will my right hon. Friend confirm that in the event of recruiting 300 extra staff, with a further 600 planned. no deal the UK Government will not create a hard Wehave given a range of advice through our 106 technical border on the island of Ireland? And if we do not do it, notices, half of which gave advice on customs procedures who does he think will? for businesses. There have been 300,000 letters sent to current customs users and 145,000 letters to VAT-registered Dominic Raab: My hon. Friend is attempting to draw businesses. me down an avenue of inquiry I will not be pursuing. What I will say is that we have made it clear that under Liz McInnes: The Health Secretary told pharmaceutical no circumstances will we see or erect a hard border in companies to stockpile six weeks’ worth of medicines in relation to Northern Ireland. case of a no-deal Brexit because of potential delays at the border. Will the Brexit Secretary confirm whether Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP): This week the NAO he envisages circumstances where companies could be warned that not a single one of the Her Majesty’s asked to stockpile for longer than six weeks? Revenue and Customs’ preparations for a no-deal Brexit 415 Oral Answers 25 OCTOBER 2018 Oral Answers 416 was in anything other than a red-amber state of lack of the Labour party’s current commitment to rejecting any preparedness. That is on top of the 80,000 lost Scottish deal that the Government bring back opening the door jobs, £2,300 out of the pockets of every Scottish household to a second referendum, the Labour leadership have and a 9% hit to our economy that a no-deal Brexit is driven a coach and horses straight through the promises likely to bring. Is the Secretary of State seriously telling that they made to every Labour voter at the last election. us that it is possible for him and the Prime Minister to bring back a bad deal that is worse than that? Leaving the EU Dominic Raab: The hon. Gentleman is right to point 2. Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con): What steps his to the risks of no deal, but the point is to have the Department is taking to protect the integrity of the UK planning and preparations in place to ensure we can after the UK leaves the EU. [907259] avoid or mitigate those risks. In addition to the remarks I made earlier, £8 million of funding for customs The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union intermediaries has been announced. We also need to (Dominic Raab): We are negotiating to secure a strong prepare for the worst-case scenario, whereby the authorities deal that works for the whole United Kingdom, and our at Calais are deliberately directing a go-slow approach, White Paper proposals will deliver on that. by supporting a diversion of the flow to more amenable ports in other countries. Giles Watling: I do not believe in a second referendum, and I have grave doubts about referendums in general. Peter Grant: HMRC will not have the capacity to We had the vote, and the people voted to leave. I voted cope and the Border Force will not have the capacity to to remain. Now, after all this time and division, what cope, but at least we know that the Government’s capacity are we going to do to heal the scars left by the referendum? for incompetence is utterly unbounded. The Secretary of State is criticising others for so-called intransigence. Dominic Raab: My hon. Friend is absolutely right; a Is it not time for the Government to drop their own second referendum would create far more uncertainty intransigent stance, go right back to the beginning, rub than it would resolve, and would erode public trust in out the three stupid red lines and start again? our democracy. We will heal the divisions created by the campaign and the politics of Brexit by delivering on the Dominic Raab: If the hon. Gentleman thinks that at outcome of the referendum, and by making sure that this late stage of negotiations, we can go back to the we deliver jobs for working families and build homes for beginning, I am afraid his approach is rather delusional. the next generation beyond the Brexit negotiations. We have made good progress and we are close to agreeing a deal. The responsible thing for Members Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab): from all parts of the House to do, regardless of their Now that we know that the referendum that delivered views on Brexit, is to get behind the Government so we this entire process was conducted illegally, surely that is can clinch that good deal for all quarters and all parts another reason to give us all a people’s vote at the end of of the UK. the process. The Secretary of State can have his Bill endorsed, and we can have the option to remain, because Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): Has the Secretary we know what that looks like.