Lords to challenge Minister on concerns over post-Brexit trade in goods

This is the fifth and final oral evidence session of this inquiry. The evidence session will take place at 2.00pm on Wednesday 17 November in Committee Room 4A and can be viewed live on Parliament TV.

Witness:

2pm

• Rt Hon Michael Ellis MP, Paymaster General, Cabinet Office

Topics likely to be covered in the session include:

• What the Government is trying to achieve in terms of GB-EU trade in goods
• What the Government is doing to restore business confidence in the new timetable for the introduction of import controls
• The potential impact of disputes over the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland
• The impact of inconsistent treatment of GB exports by EU authorities

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.