Lords Committee to quiz Cabinet Office and HMRC officials in final evidence session on post-Brexit trade in goods

The public evidence session will take place at 4.00pm (GMT) on Tuesday 9 November 2021 in Committee Room 4 and can be viewed live on parliamentlive.tv 

This will be the final oral evidence session of this inquiry. The launch of this inquiry comes nearly a year after the UK’s formal exit from the Single Market and Customs Union, and follows the UK Government’s decision on 14 September 2021 to further delay the introduction of new import controls on goods entering GB from the EU, many of which will now not be introduced until 1 July 2022.

In announcing this delay, the Government stated that its “own preparations, in terms of systems, infrastructure and resourcing, remain on track to meet” the original timetable, and that the delay instead reflected the impact of the pandemic and wider pressures on supply chains. 

In contrast to this approach, the EU introduced full import controls from 1 January 2021 – leading to an asymmetry between GB exports to the EU and GB imports from the EU, with the former facing more checks and controls than the latter. 

The Committee has held three evidence sessions on trade in goods and will be putting the questions and issues raised in those sessions to the Government departments concerned. 

Witnesses:  

4pm 

• Emma Churchill, Director General, Border and Protocol Delivery Group at Cabinet Office 
• Sophie Dean, Director General, Borders and Trade at HMRC 

Topics for discussion will include: 

• The impact of the introduction of new non-tariff barriers on trade in goods
• The Government’s decision to delay the introduction of certain import controls 
• Government preparations for the introduction of import controls, including guidance to business and the construction of physical border infrastructure  
• Divergence between the UK and EU regulations on goods