TREASURY COMMITTEE April 2020

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

TREASURY COMMITTEE April 2020 COMMONS SELECT COMMITTEES TREASURY COMMITTEE April 2020 COMMITTEE PRIORITIES The Chair, Mel Stride, was re-elected unopposed following the 2019 General Election having set out his priorities at the time for the committee which included: the representation of women in finance, business tax reliefs, regional imbalances in the economy and Brexit. Mr Stride did not highlight areas of more direct relevance to the funds industry. However, we expect the committee to concentrate on COVID-19 issues and our future trade agreements with the EU and United States. Committee members might also pursue subjects of greater relevance to industry, or revisit unfinished inquiries from the last parliament, such as green finance. With regard to the Government’s ongoing response to the COVID-19 crisis, the committee launched a call for evidence into Economic impact of coronavirus and continues to hold ministers, officials and the financial services industry to account in public. Chair profile Rt Hon Mel Stride MP [email protected] Conservative / Central Devon – Intake 2010 Mel Stride is a former Government Whip, Leader of the House and Financial Secretary to the Treasury. He was elected as Treasury Committee Chair in October 2019, and was re-elected unopposed following the General Election. Before entering Parliament, he setup and ran his own business specialising in trade exhibitions, conferences and publishing. Member profiles Steve Baker MP [email protected] Conservative / Wycombe – Intake 2010 Ardent Brexiteer, Steve Baker, was a junior minister in the Department for Exiting the EU between 2017 and 2018. He is best known for twice chairing the eurosceptic European Research Group which is made up of Conservative backbench MPs. He is a longstanding member of the Treasury committee having served on it since 2014, aside from the year he spent in Government. Harriett Baldwin MP [email protected] Conservative / West Worcestershire – Intake 2010 Harriett Baldwin has extensive experience across government having served as a minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for International Development, Ministry of Defence as well as City Minister between 2015 and 2016. Before becoming an MP, she spent 20 years in finance specialising in currency markets for pension funds. Anthony Browne MP [email protected] Conservative / Wycombe – Intake 2019 Despite being a new MP, Anthony Browne will be familiar to many in the City given his previous role as chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association. Mr Browne also chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Environment. He is a former Director of the think tank Policy Exchange and was Policy Director for Economic Development to Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London. Felicity Buchan MP [email protected] Conservative / Wycombe – Intake 2019 Before entering Parliament, Felicity Buchan’s professional career was in financial services specialising in raising significant finance for countries, large companies and global agencies such as the World Bank. She lists her political priorities as growing the economy, protecting the environment and zero tolerance on crime. Julie Marson MP [email protected] Conservative / Wycombe – Intake 2019 Prior to entering Parliament, Julie Marson’s professional career was in finance. She also served as a magistrate and a local councillor in Thanet. During the EU referendum campaign she sat on the board of the eurosceptic group Women for Britain. Alison McGovern MP [email protected] Labour / Wirral West – Intake 2010 Alison McGovern is expected to step down as a member of the Committee, following her appointment to Keir Starmer’s frontbench team as Shadow Sports Minister. Rushanara Ali MP [email protected] Labour / Bethnal Green and Bow – Intake 2010 Rushanara Ali is now in her third stint on the Treasury committee. Under the leadership of Ed Miliband, she was a shadow frontbencher taking on roles covering international development and education. Ms Ali co-founded One Million Mentors, an online platform to recruit, train and deploy one million mentors to organisations working with young people. Angela Eagle MP [email protected] Labour / Wallasey – Intake 1992 Experienced parliamentarian, Angela Eagle, took on a number of ministerial roles when Labour were last in government including in the Department for Work and Pensions, Home Office and as Exchequer Secretary in the Treasury. In 2016 she unsuccessfully challenged Jeremy Corbyn for leadership of the Labour Party before later withdrawing. Ms Eagle returns to the Treasury committee having last been a member between 2003 and 2007. Liz Kendall MP [email protected] Labour / Leicester West – Intake 2010 Liz Kendall is expected to step down as a member of the Committee, following her appointment to Keir Starmer’s frontbench team as a Shadow Health Minister. Alison Thewliss MP [email protected] SNP / Glasgow Central – Intake 2015 Alison Thewliss is a new member of the committee which sits alongside her role as the SNP’s principal Shadow Treasury Spokesperson. Ms Thewliss came to prominence early in her parliamentary career successfully campaigning for a “rape clause” to be added to changes to the tax credits system limiting payments to two children. Committee email address: [email protected] Phone: 020 7219 8222 Gosia McBride, Clerk: [email protected] Adam Wales, Chief Policy Adviser: [email protected] Matt Panteli, Senior Policy & Media Officer: [email protected] The Investment Association Camomile Court, 23 Camomile Street, London, EC3A 7LL www.theia.org @InvAssoc.
Recommended publications
  • Cesifo Working Paper No. 7803
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Ryan, John Working Paper The Brexit Conundrum Worsens the UK's Relationship with the European Union CESifo Working Paper, No. 7803 Provided in Cooperation with: Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich Suggested Citation: Ryan, John (2019) : The Brexit Conundrum Worsens the UK's Relationship with the European Union, CESifo Working Paper, No. 7803, Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/207194 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu 7803 2019 August 2019 The Brexit Conundrum Worsens the UK’s Relationship with the European Union John T.
    [Show full text]
  • Bangla Stories 1 2 3 6 10 13 16 20 23 27
    TEACHING RESOURCES FOR KEY STAGE 3 Acknowledgements Lesson plans devised by Anusree Biswas. All photographs are © LSE/Runnymede except the photograph of Rushanara Ali which is taken from Wikimedia Commons which states that the photo is in the public domain, and is reproduced here with thanks. Introduction: Using the Lesson Plans .............................................................................. 2 Theme 1: Identity/Self-identification .......................................................................... 3 Theme 2: Exploring Identity ........................................................................................ 6 Theme 3: Home .......................................................................................................... 10 Theme 4: Family History ............................................................................................ 13 Theme 5: Migration .................................................................................................... 16 Theme 6: Generation ................................................................................................. 20 Theme 7: Prejudice .................................................................................................... 23 Theme 8: Celebrating Bengali Culture ..................................................................... 27 ISBN: 978 1 906732 62 2 (online) EAN: 9781906732622 (online) Published by Runnymede in July 2010, this document is copyright © Runnymede. Open access. Some rights reserved. The Runnymede Trust wants
    [Show full text]
  • The Labour Party Is More Than the Shadow Cabinet, and Corbyn Must Learn to Engage with It
    The Labour Party is more than the shadow cabinet, and Corbyn must learn to engage with it blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-labour-party-is-more-than-the-shadow-cabinet/ 1/11/2016 The three-day reshuffle of the shadow cabinet might have helped Jeremy Corbyn stamp his mark on the party but he needs to do more to ensure his leadership lasts, writes Eunice Goes. She explains the Labour leader must engage with all groups that have historically made up the party, while his rhetoric should focus more on policies that resonate with the public. Doing so will require a stronger vision of what he means by ‘new politics’ and, crucially, a better communications strategy. By Westminster standards Labour’s shadow cabinet reshuffle was ‘shambolic’ and had the key ingredients of a ‘pantomime’. At least, it was in those terms that it was described by a large number of Labour politicians and Westminster watchers. It certainly wasn’t slick, or edifying. Taking the best of a week to complete a modest shadow cabinet reshuffle was revealing of the limited authority the leader Jeremy Corbyn has over the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). Against the wishes of the Labour leader, the Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn and the Shadow Chief Whip Rosie Winterton kept their posts. However, Corbyn was able to assert his authority in other ways. He moved the pro-Trident Maria Eagle from Defence and appointed the anti-Trident Emily Thornberry to the post. He also imposed some ground rules on Hillary Benn and got rid of Michael Dugher and Pat McFadden on the grounds of disloyalty.
    [Show full text]
  • Personal Histories in Health Research ~
    Personal Histories in Health Research ~ Edited by Adam Oliver ISBN: 1 905030 11 8 Personal Histories in Health collection © The Nuffield Trust 2005 ‘Ploughing a furrow in ethics’ © Raanan Gillon and The Nuffield Trust 2005 Published by The Nuffield Trust 59 New Cavendish Street London WC1 7LP telephone 020 7631 8450 fax 020 7613 8451 email: [email protected] website: www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk charity number 209201 designed and printed by Q3 Digital Litho telephone 01509 213 456 website: www.Q3group.co.uk Contents 1 Healthy Lives: reflecting on the reflections Adam Oliver 3 2 Health inequalities: from science to policy David Blane 15 3 In sickness and in health: working in medical sociology Mike Bury 29 4 Random assignments: my route into health policy: a post-hoc rationalisation Anna Coote 47 5 Last Season’s fruit John Grimley Evans 65 6 Ploughing a furrow in ethics Raanan Gillon 85 7 The Jungle: an explorer’s experiences of health services research Walter W Holland 101 8 Confessions of a graduate nurse Alison Kitson 121 9 Confessions of an accidental policy analyst, or why I am not a health service researcher Rudolf Klein 139 10 Seeking somewhere to stop Jennie Popay 155 11 Political ideals and personal encounters Albert Weale 173 12 Discovering the QALY, or how Rachel Rosser changed my life Alan Williams 191 13 Health policy, management and gardening Robert Maxwell 207 About the authors About the authors vii David Blane is Professor of Medical Sociology at Imperial College London. He trained in medicine and sociology, and enjoys teaching medical sociology as an applied subject to large classes of trainee doctors, and as an academic discipline to smaller numbers of interested medical students.
    [Show full text]
  • ECON Thesaurus on Brexit
    STUDY Requested by the ECON Committee ECON Thesaurus on Brexit Fourth edition Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies Authors: Stephanie Honnefelder, Doris Kolassa, Sophia Gernert, Roberto Silvestri Directorate General for Internal Policies of the Union July 2017 EN DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT A: ECONOMIC AND SCIENTIFIC POLICY ECON Thesaurus on Brexit Fourth edition Abstract This thesaurus is a collection of ECON related articles, papers and studies on the possible withdrawal of the UK from the EU. Recent literature from various sources is categorised, chronologically listed – while keeping the content of previous editions - and briefly summarised. To facilitate the use of this tool and to allow an easy access, certain documents may appear in more than one category. The thesaurus is non-exhaustive and may be updated. This document was provided by Policy Department A at the request of the ECON Committee. IP/A/ECON/2017-15 July 2017 PE 607.326 EN This document was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. AUTHORS Stephanie HONNEFELDER Doris KOLASSA Sophia GERNERT, trainee Roberto SILVESTRI, trainee RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATOR Stephanie HONNEFELDER Policy Department A: Economic and Scientific Policy European Parliament B-1047 Brussels E-mail: [email protected] LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN ABOUT THE EDITOR Policy departments provide in-house and external expertise to support EP committees and other parliamentary bodies
    [Show full text]
  • Minutes of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Justice for Equitable Life Policyholders Held on 10Th November 2014 at 4.30Pm in Committee Room 17, House of Commons
    Minutes of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Justice for Equitable Life Policyholders Held on 10th November 2014 at 4.30pm In Committee Room 17, House of Commons Present: Bob Blackman MP (co-chair), Fabian Hamilton MP (co-chair), Stephen Lloyd MP (secretary), Alistair Burt MP, Andrea Leadsom MP, Andrew George MP, Andrew Jones MP, Dame Anne Begg MP, Annette Brooke MP, Bob Neill MP, Caroline Spelman MP, Claire Perry MP, Heather Wheeler MP, Ivan Lewis MP, Jason McCartney MP, Jenny Willott MP, John Leech MP, Julian Lewis MP, Mark Field MP, Mary Glindon MP, Mary Macleod MP, Mike Hancock MP, Mike Thornton MP, Paul Uppal MP, Sir Peter Bottomley MP, Philip Hollobone MP, Rebecca Harris MP, Richard Harrington MP and Tessa Munt MP. Paul Braithwaite (EMAG), Alex Henney (EMAG) and Paul Weir (EMAG). The staff of Clive Betts MP, David Davis MP, Desmond Swayne MP, Elizabeth Truss MP, Fiona Bruce MP, Guy Opperman MP, Harriett Baldwin MP, Iain Stewart MP, John Baron MP, Michael Fallon MP and Stephen O'Brien MP • Andrew Jones (Con, Harrogate and Knaresborough) (AJ) chaired the meeting for the election of officers. All officers had indicated willingness to stand for re-election. AJ proposed the election of Bob Blackman (Con, Harrow East) (BB) and Fabian Hamilton (Lab, Leeds North East) (FH) as Co-Chairs, this was seconded by Alistair Burt (Con, North East Bedfordshire) (AB) and approved by the Group. The election of Stephen Lloyd (Lib Dem, Eastbourne) (SL) as Secretary was proposed by AJ and seconded by Dame Anne Begg (Lab, Aberdeen South) and approved by the Group.
    [Show full text]
  • (CUWS) Outreach Journal #1183
    USAF Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies (CUWS) Outreach Journal CUWS Outreach Journal 1183 18 September 2015 Feature Item: “The U.S.-China Military Scorecard: Forces, Geography, and the Evolving Balance of Power, 1996–2017”. Authored by Eric Heginbotham, Michael Nixon, Forrest E. Morgan, Jacob Heim, Jeff Hagen, Sheng Li, Jeffrey G. Engstrom, Martin C. Libicki, Paul DeLuca, David A. Shlapak, David R. Frelinger, Burgess Laird, Kyle Brady, and Lyle J. Morris; published by RAND Corporation; 2015; 430 pages. http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR300/RR392/RAND_RR392.pdf Over the past two decades, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has transformed itself from a large but antiquated force into a capable, modern military. In many areas, its technology and the skill levels lag behind those of the United States, but it has narrowed the gap. Moreover it enjoys the advantage of proximity in most plausible Asian conflict scenarios and has developed capabilities that capitalize on that advantage. How would Chinese and U.S. forces perform in operations against one another in such a conflict? What is the balance of power? What are the prospects for deterrence, and what can be done to strengthen them? This volume examines relative U.S. and Chinese military capabilities in ten operational areas, covering the air and missile, maritime, space and counterspace, cyber, and nuclear domains. It looks at trends across time, from 1996 to the present, as well as potential developments through 2017. And it examines the impact of distance and geography on military power by assessing capabilities in the context of two scenarios at different distances from China: one centered on Taiwan and the other on the Spratly Islands.
    [Show full text]
  • Financial Year 2017-18 (PDF)
    Envelope (Inc. Paper (Inc. Postage (Inc. Grand Total Member of Parliament's Name Parliamentary Constituency VAT) VAT) VAT) Adam Afriyie MP Windsor £188.10 £160.85 £2,437.50 £2,786.45 Adam Holloway MP Gravesham £310.74 £246.57 £3,323.75 £3,881.06 Adrian Bailey MP West Bromwich West £87.78 £0.00 £1,425.00 £1,512.78 Afzal Khan MP Manchester Gorton £327.49 £636.95 £6,885.00 £7,849.44 Alan Brown MP Kilmarnock and Loudoun £238.29 £203.34 £2,463.50 £2,905.13 Alan Mak MP Havant £721.71 £385.00 £7,812.50 £8,919.21 Albert Owen MP Ynys Mon £93.11 £86.12 £812.50 £991.73 Alberto Costa MP South Leicestershire £398.43 £249.23 £3,802.50 £4,450.16 Alec Shelbrooke MP Elmet and Rothwell £116.73 £263.57 £2,240.00 £2,620.30 Alex Burghart MP Brentwood & Ongar £336.60 £318.63 £3,190.00 £3,845.23 Alex Chalk MP Cheltenham £476.58 £274.30 £4,915.00 £5,665.88 Alex Cunningham MP Stockton North £182.70 £154.09 £1,817.50 £2,154.29 Alex Norris MP Nottingham North £217.42 £383.88 £2,715.00 £3,316.30 Alex Sobel MP Leeds North West £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 Alison McGovern MP Wirral South £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 Alister Jack MP Dumfries and Galloway £437.04 £416.31 £4,955.50 £5,808.85 Alok Sharma MP Reading West £374.19 £399.80 £4,332.50 £5,106.49 Rt Hon Alun Cairns MP Vale of Glamorgan £446.30 £105.53 £8,305.00 £8,856.83 Amanda Milling MP Cannock Chase £387.40 £216.72 £4,340.00 £4,944.12 Andrea Jenkyns MP Morley & Outwood £70.14 £266.82 £560.00 £896.96 Andrew Bowie MP W Aberdeenshire & Kincardine £717.92 £424.42 £7,845.00 £8,987.34 Andrew Bridgen MP North West Leicestershire
    [Show full text]
  • Making a Hasty Brexit? Ministerial Turnover and Its Implications
    Making a Hasty Brexit? Ministerial Turnover and Its Implications Jessica R. Adolino, Ph. D. Professor of Political Science James Madison University Draft prepared for presentation at the European Studies Association Annual Meeting May 9-12, 2019, Denver, Colorado Please do not cite or distribute without author’s permission. By almost any measure, since the immediate aftermath of the June 16, 2016 Brexit referendum, the British government has been in a state of chaos. The turmoil began with then- Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation on June 17 and succession by Theresa May within days of the vote. Subsequently, May’s decision to call a snap election in 2017 and the resulting loss of the Conservatives’ parliamentary majority cast doubt on her leadership and further stirred up dissension in her party’s ranks. Perhaps more telling, and the subject of this paper, is the unprecedented number of ministers1—from both senior and junior ranks—that quit the May government over Brexit-related policy disagreements2. Between June 12, 2017 and April 3, 2019, the government witnessed 45 resignations, with high-profile secretaries of state and departmental ministers stepping down to return to the backbenches. Of these, 34 members of her government, including 9 serving in the Cabinet, departed over issues with some aspect of Brexit, ranging from dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister’s Withdrawal Agreement, to disagreements about the proper role of Parliament, to questions about the legitimacy of the entire Brexit process. All told, Theresa May lost more ministers, and at a more rapid pace, than any other prime minister in modern times.
    [Show full text]
  • THE 422 Mps WHO BACKED the MOTION Conservative 1. Bim
    THE 422 MPs WHO BACKED THE MOTION Conservative 1. Bim Afolami 2. Peter Aldous 3. Edward Argar 4. Victoria Atkins 5. Harriett Baldwin 6. Steve Barclay 7. Henry Bellingham 8. Guto Bebb 9. Richard Benyon 10. Paul Beresford 11. Peter Bottomley 12. Andrew Bowie 13. Karen Bradley 14. Steve Brine 15. James Brokenshire 16. Robert Buckland 17. Alex Burghart 18. Alistair Burt 19. Alun Cairns 20. James Cartlidge 21. Alex Chalk 22. Jo Churchill 23. Greg Clark 24. Colin Clark 25. Ken Clarke 26. James Cleverly 27. Thérèse Coffey 28. Alberto Costa 29. Glyn Davies 30. Jonathan Djanogly 31. Leo Docherty 32. Oliver Dowden 33. David Duguid 34. Alan Duncan 35. Philip Dunne 36. Michael Ellis 37. Tobias Ellwood 38. Mark Field 39. Vicky Ford 40. Kevin Foster 41. Lucy Frazer 42. George Freeman 43. Mike Freer 44. Mark Garnier 45. David Gauke 46. Nick Gibb 47. John Glen 48. Robert Goodwill 49. Michael Gove 50. Luke Graham 51. Richard Graham 52. Bill Grant 53. Helen Grant 54. Damian Green 55. Justine Greening 56. Dominic Grieve 57. Sam Gyimah 58. Kirstene Hair 59. Luke Hall 60. Philip Hammond 61. Stephen Hammond 62. Matt Hancock 63. Richard Harrington 64. Simon Hart 65. Oliver Heald 66. Peter Heaton-Jones 67. Damian Hinds 68. Simon Hoare 69. George Hollingbery 70. Kevin Hollinrake 71. Nigel Huddleston 72. Jeremy Hunt 73. Nick Hurd 74. Alister Jack (Teller) 75. Margot James 76. Sajid Javid 77. Robert Jenrick 78. Jo Johnson 79. Andrew Jones 80. Gillian Keegan 81. Seema Kennedy 82. Stephen Kerr 83. Mark Lancaster 84.
    [Show full text]
  • One Nation: Power, Hope, Community
    one nation power hope community power hope community Ed Miliband has set out his vision of One Nation: a country where everyone has a stake, prosperity is fairly shared, and we make a common life together. A group of Labour MPs, elected in 2010 and after, describe what this politics of national renewal means to them. It begins in the everyday life of work, family and local place. It is about the importance of having a sense of belonging and community, and sharing power and responsibility with people. It means reforming the state and the market in order to rebuild the economy, share power hope community prosperity, and end the living standards crisis. And it means doing politics in a different way: bottom up not top down, organising not managing. A new generation is changing Labour to change the country. Edited by Owen Smith and Rachael Reeves Contributors: Shabana Mahmood Rushanara Ali Catherine McKinnell Kate Green Gloria De Piero Lilian Greenwood Steve Reed Tristram Hunt Rachel Reeves Dan Jarvis Owen Smith Edited by Owen Smith and Rachel Reeves 9 781909 831001 1 ONE NATION power hope community Edited by Owen Smith & Rachel Reeves London 2013 3 First published 2013 Collection © the editors 2013 Individual articles © the author The authors have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1998 to be identified as authors of this work. All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical, mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploding the Myths of Leaving the Customs Union
    Exploding the myths of leaving the Customs Union A joint publication from the European Research Group and Global Britain Fact – NOT Friction Exploding the myths of leaving the Customs Union A joint publication from the European Research Group and Global Britain C O N T E N T S Foreword 3 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 6 Myths surrounding a UK-EU free trade deal 9 Myths surrounding ‘No Deal’ – or trading on WTO terms 20 About the publishers 23 20th November 2018 Cover picture: The Port of Southampton, Diego Torres 2 FOREWORD By Simon Boyd FinstD, Managing Director of Reid Steel It is often said that when the UK leaves the EU Single Market and its Customs Union that it will be far harder to trade whether it's import or export – that frictionless trade will become difficult with delays, obstacles and costs. From my own experience I can say the reverse is true. In my experience trading with our European friends is infinitely more difficult than it is to trade with other countries outside the EU. It has, for instance, been easier for us to export to Mongolia than to France, despite the fact we were founded there in 1919. The reasons for this are obvious, the EU is bureaucratic by its very nature and its Customs Union is a fortress designed to protect producers inside it rather than encourage open free trade where everyone can benefit. But we are not and never have been protected by this protectionist regime. Instead we have seen the steady ebb of manufacturing move to other areas of the EU – and even to areas beyond – as a result of our membership.
    [Show full text]