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Select committee: European Affairs Committee

Government Response, Letter from Lord Grimstone of Boscobel

Published 10 February 2022

European Affairs Committee Report on parliament.uk ↗

At a glance

The government's response

This document responds to 3rd Report - Free Trade Agreement between Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Kingdom of Norway and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

This is the government's response, published 10 February 2022.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government notes the Committee's report and welcomes its overall assessment that the FTA aims to safeguard existing trade, while treating the agreement as a continuity deal and committing only to "consider" improvements to published materials.

  • On transparency, the government regards the FTA as a continuity agreement and says it followed the same scrutiny processes as with other continuity agreements, publishing a Parliamentary Report and an impact assessment.
  • On the format of published materials, the government "acknowledges the Committee's concern" and "will consider" how best to publish them in a user-friendly format. No date is given.
  • For new FTAs such as those with Australia and New Zealand, the government says it is "committed to even greater transparency", including publishing a final stage impact assessment prior to scrutiny by Parliament.
  • On the Northern Ireland Protocol, the government says the parties exchanged letters recording a shared understanding and that Northern Ireland businesses will benefit from preferential tariffs under UK FTAs.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error

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