Hansard

The Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee has scrutinised Brexit and its implications since 2016. We have listened to thousands of hours of oral evidence and received tens of thousands of pages of written evidence from concerned stakeholders. I thank all those who have provided evidence, the members of the committee and our clerks and advisers for their hard work over the years.

The process that began in 2016 reached a culmination of sorts with the trade and co-operation agreement of 24 December and the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill that is passing through Westminster today. According to that bill’s explanatory notes, 24 of its 36 clauses engage the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. Our committee is required to report on the bill and on the legislative consent memorandum that the Scottish Government has produced. We have now done so and our written response, published in the past hour, recommends that the Scottish Parliament does not give the bill legislative consent. I will outline the reasons for that recommendation.

The committee has had little time for scrutiny of the bill or of the LCM. We took evidence this morning from the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, Europe and External Affairs. We requested that the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, give evidence to the committee on behalf of the UK Government, but his office said that that was not possible.

However, nine days ago, the committee published a report entitled “EU-UK Government Future Relationship Negotiations: The Impact of the End of the Transition Period”. That work has helped to inform our written response, which was made in the past hour with only the two Conservative members of the committee dissenting from the report.

I thank our two advisers: Dr Anna Jerzewska, a globally recognised customs and international trade adviser, and Dr Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive and chief economist at the European Policy Centre. Their expertise and insight have been invaluable.

The committee believes that the timescales for consideration of the bill are unacceptable. To have less than a week to scrutinise the implications of the 24 December agreement, and less than a day to consider the UK bill and the content of a legislative consent memorandum, is clearly inadequate. That timetable exhibits disregard for parliamentary scrutiny and for the role of all legislatures across the UK. I note that the European Parliament refuses to be treated in that way and will not begin its scrutiny of the agreement until January.

The agreement is unique. It is the first modern trade deal to disintegrate a trading partnership and to erect barriers between markets. All other modern trade agreements seek to strengthen partnerships and to dismantle barriers. Zero-tariff and zero-quota trade is not the same as seamless or frictionless trade. Leaving the single market and customs union means that very significant non-tariff barriers will affect exporters on 1 January, in just two days’ time.

The new relationship between the EU and the UK will involve the reintroduction of customs procedures, border checks, and sanitary and phytosanitary checks. Individuals who wish to work in EU countries will be affected, while the mutual recognition of professional qualifications will effectively end. Even the removal of tariffs and quotas on goods is conditional on matters such as rules of origin regulations. That will have a significant impact on supply chains. The agreement does not address the delays, congestion and bottlenecks that we see already at our ports.

The agreement does not cover services, which account for 80 per cent of the UK’s gross domestic product and 40 per cent of UK exports to the EU. That includes financial services, which are a key sector of Scotland’s economy. The UK and the EU hope to reach a memorandum of understanding by March to recognise each other’s rules on financial regulation—a process known as equivalence. However, equivalence decisions that are granted by the EU can be withdrawn at short notice, as Switzerland has discovered.

This is a thin agreement, as many aspects of trade and co-operation have still to be negotiated and agreed. The committee believes that it will

“result in a significantly negative economic impact to both the Scottish and UK economy”.

The committee is also concerned about the governance framework for overseeing the implementation of the agreement. It will be headed by a partnership council, which will be co-chaired by a representative from the European Commission and a UK Government minister. Nineteen specialised committees and four working groups will deal with specific aspects of the EU-UK trading relationship. The committee notes that some of the subject matter that will be considered in the governance framework concerns devolved competences, such as justice and fisheries. We are unaware of any provision for the Scottish Government to participate in the governance framework. We therefore recommend that the Scottish Government, at ministerial and official level as appropriate, should be present at meetings that deal with devolved policy areas.

The governance framework will also establish a parliamentary partnership assembly consisting of members from European and UK Parliaments. The committee recommends that the Scottish Parliament be represented in that assembly.

The committee notes that the UK will be a third country with regard to law enforcement and judicial co-operation. We are very concerned that the UK will not be able to participate in the European arrest warrant scheme or the Schengen information scheme.

It is a matter of deep regret that the UK will no longer participate in the Erasmus+ programme. In 2018, the committee conducted an inquiry into Erasmus+, which found that Scotland benefited significantly from participation in it. In particular, the committee found that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds found that the scheme opened doors and transformed their life chances. We found that it was much more than a university exchange programme, as it benefited young people who were in further education and apprenticeships and who were involved in youth work and volunteering. We therefore recommend that the Scottish Government explore all possible avenues to enable young people in Scotland to continue to participate in Erasmus+, and that the UK Government reconsider its rejection of the programme.

In its inquiry into the future relationship negotiations, the committee took evidence from members of the Scottish fisheries sector, who were told repeatedly by the UK Government that Brexit would result in them having a significant increase in their quotas and complete control of their waters. Whether or not we consider that expectation to have been realistic, it is what they were promised and the agreement falls far short of those promises. The committee is aware of the concern that is being expressed by fishing stakeholders and of analysis that suggests that Scottish fishermen will have their quotas of certain species reduced. We would welcome further analysis of that matter.

The Culture, Tourism Europe and External Affairs Committee—with the exception of our two Conservative members—believes that the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill will have significant negative consequences for the economy, society and culture of Scotland. The time that has been given to this Parliament to scrutinise the agreement and the bill is completely inadequate. The committee therefore recommends that the Scottish Parliament does not provide legislative consent to the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill.