Ministers to give evidence to Lords post-Brexit trade inquiry

The committees will hear evidence on the Government's negotiating position with the EU, how Brexit will be delivered, and how the UK will trade with non-EU countries.

The House of Lords EU Internal Market and EU External Affairs Sub-Committees are working together to investigate UK-EU trade following June's referendum.

The committees will hear evidence from:

• Lord Bridges MBE, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union
• Lord Price CVO, Minister of State for Trade Policy at the Department for International Trade.

Questions which the witnesses are likely to face include:

• What work is the Government doing to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the existing “models” for UK-EU trade and their possible implications for the UK? How is this work being structured?
• Is the Government considering a transitional arrangement to minimise disruption to trade if the framework for a future relationship between the EU and the UK is not agreed within two years of triggering Article 50?
• How is the Government engaging with industry, non-governmental organisations and consumer interest groups on the UK's future relationship with the EU?
• What is the Government doing to identify EU standards that are relevant to trade and decide whether to maintain those standards or change them?
• What is the Government's assessment of the impact of losing access to existing the EU's Free Trade Agreements with third countries? Will the Government be seeking to access them as a third party?

The House of Lords EU Committee and its six Sub-Committees are conducting a coordinated series of short inquiries looking at the key issues that will arise in the forthcoming negotiations on Brexit. Taken as a whole, this programme of work will be the most extensive and thorough parliamentary scrutiny of Brexit.

This evidence session will take place at 2.30pm on Thursday 13 October 2016 in Committee Room 4A of the House of Lords.