Well, we have worked for a long time to do a free trade deal with India, and it is in the offing. The Canadian one took eight years. Let us again be absolutely realistic about this.
The majority in the Commons are for staying in the customs union because of the fear of the extra costs. We know about the BuzzFeed leaked reports that found that Britain would be financially worse of outside the EU under any model or any of the scenarios. Hilary Benn, the chair of the parliamentary Brexit committee, has said that the government’s decision to make leaving the customs union its policy without first assessing the impact of doing so is, in his words, “extraordinary”.
The CBI, which represents 190,000 businesses which employ 7 million people, has said very clearly that customs union membership would,
“resolve the question of how to keep an open border between Ireland and the UK”,
which as noble Lords have heard is so important for maintaining the peace. We should not jeopardise the Good Friday agreement for anything. We have to get our priorities right as a country.
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Chuka Umunna, the former shadow Business Secretary, said that it was inevitable that it was “inevitable” that Labour would pledge itself to remaining in the customs union “in some form”. He said:
“It is the only way we have of ensuring that we can protect one of our greatest legacies, the Good Friday agreement”.
And lo and behold, what happened just now? The UK will have to have a customs union with the EU after leaving the bloc—Jeremy Corbyn has said that just now. Asked how Labour’s position differed to that of the Government, Corbyn said:
“We have to have access to European markets, we have to have a customs union that makes sure we can continue that trade, particularly between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. That is key to it”.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow Foreign Secretary, has said that it,
“seemed inevitable the UK would have to stay in some sort of customs union after Brexit”.
She said:
“we cannot see a way forward when it comes to Northern Ireland or to tariff-free trade across Europe without us being in some form of customs union that probably looks very much like the customs union that there is at the moment, and that’s our position on that”.
It is an important task for the UK to try to rebuild all these other deals. David Davis said that it would be possible for the UK to negotiate trade deals,
“massively larger than the EU”.
Where is the reality in this? Has he learned mathematics or arithmetic at school? I have just gone through the sums with noble Lords—but he says they will be massively larger than the EU.
Of course, on the sequencing on the negotiations, a US trade representative has said that,
“informal discussions won't be possible until decisions have been made about the UK and EU relationship. Even then, many countries will want to be clear about the UK's membership of the WTO before they open negotiations”.
The no-deal scenario and falling back on the WTO would be the nightmare scenario—the worst of all options.
Finally, before I conclude, there is the number of business groups that are backing staying in the customs union. There is Carolyn Fairbairn of the CBI, whom I mentioned earlier. For the TUC, Frances O’Grady said:
“Working people’s jobs, rights and livelihoods depend on maintaining our trade with Europe. Staying within the customs union is really important to achieving this”.
The National Farmers’ Union’s policy is that,
“the best outcome … would be that the UK remains part of the European customs union”.
The Farmers Union of Wales, as noble Lords will remember, voted to leave overall, but its president, Glyn Roberts, has said that,
“the only sensible outcome is to ensure we are still members of the common market and customs union on the day we leave the EU”.
The chief executive of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation said:
“The UK plan to leave the customs union is at odds with the economic interest of both the UK and EU … The UK remaining in a customs union would partially offset the negative impact of Brexit on jobs and the economy in the UK, Ireland and the wider EU. It would also go some way to resolving the challenges posed by the trade border with Northern Ireland”.
And 70% of Scottish businesses want to remain in the customs union and single market, according to a survey.
Finally—I am an alumnus of the Harvard Business School—the Harvard Kennedy School carried out a survey of small and medium-sized enterprises that concluded:
“Almost all businesses we interviewed expressed a preference for remaining in the Single Market and the Customs Union”.
I conclude that our involvement in the customs union is a decision that this Parliament has to make, especially as it was not referred to in the referendum ballot paper. In fact, a lot of people when they voted to leave did not realise that they would have to leave the customs union and the single market. As someone who has built a business from scratch, Cobra Beer, it is a challenge to start a business, and that challenge continues as you try to grow, thrive and build. British businesses do not need more barriers, more bureaucracy or more expensive administration at the borders for goods—and there is a way to avoid that. This Bill provides a crucial opportunity for Parliament to express its preference for continued participation in a customs union with the EU.
I commend this amendment to the House and conclude by saying that it is not just about staying in the customs union but also the single market. I took part in a debate in the Cambridge Union on 8 February and one of my opponents was Jacob Rees-Mogg. Do not ask me the result—do not ask him the result either.
It was closed by one of my contemporaries from Cambridge who concluded by asking, “Why is Lord Bilimoria so negative about Brexit? Why doesn’t he realise that we as a country are the best of the best in so many fields? Look at that—we should be proud. We can go global”. I then concluded for the opposition by saying, “Helena Morrissey rightly pointed out that Britain is the best of the best—at aerospace, automobiles, beer, architecture, accounting, lawyers, creative industry, museums, film and music. We are the best in the world. Isn’t it amazing that we have done that in spite of being in the European Union for 44 years?” What we need to do is continue to remain in the European Union.