The right hon. and learned Gentleman is, as always, absolutely correct. We need to recognise the umbilical cord connecting the regulatory playing fields to the trade agreements because of the nature of unfair competition and unfair practice. None of the EU member states will accept such agreements without that. What was particularly interesting about what Mr Barnier said was that the comprehensive trade discussions will be on the basis of article 218 of the treaty, which requires ratification by 27 member state Parliaments and eight regional Parliaments. The level of scrutiny, therefore, will be even greater under the future relationship than under the transitional relationship, which we know will be a carbon copy of the status quo, including on ECJ jurisdiction. I think the Government have accepted that, although there seems to be an attempt to wriggle out of some aspects. The fact remains, however, that a transition deal will be a carbon copy of the status quo.
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I support new clause 22 wholeheartedly. My hon. Friend the Member for Lewisham East (Heidi Alexander) made an outstanding speech outlining the virtues of the EEA. I would like to build on her remarks. Let us accept that we have to leave the single market and the customs union. I would argue that the EEA and EFTA are not in fact the single market and the customs union. It is possible to join those two bodies and still deliver on the Government’s wish to leave the single market and the customs union. The EEA does not include the common agricultural policy or the common fisheries policy. It also allows for the exclusion of free movement of labour. Articles 112 and 113 of the EEA agreement provide for an emergency brake on the basis of economic and societal issues. There is even a legal precedent for one EEA country setting industry-by-industry quotas on the free movement of labour. The EEA-EFTA model would enable the Government to square the circle between not wrecking the British economy by cutting off all our links with 500 million consumers on our doorstep while still delivering on many of the legitimate concerns expressed during the referendum campaign on the free movement of labour.
I would add that EFTA is not, of course, a customs union; it is a free trade area, and it is possible, on that basis, to do bilateral trade deals with other countries, which is not possible through full membership of the customs union. Iceland, for example, an EFTA member, has a bilateral free trade agreement with China. There is nothing to prevent EFTA countries from striking those deals.
The other argument sometimes used concerns the jurisdiction of the ECJ. Of course, hon. Members will know that the EEA and EFTA are under the jurisdiction of the EFTA arbitration court. If the UK were to join the court, it would give the court considerable extra clout, which would help to rebalance the relationship with the ECJ. The court does, of course, take much steer and guidance from the ECJ, but it is not slavishly attached to it, and if the UK were to be in it, it would provide a significant degree of autonomy.