My Lords, I strongly support this amendment, which is of profound importance. I apologise for an intervention that I made in Committee last week, where I was ticked off by the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, for intervening on an amendment when I had not been present for the start of the debate. I apologise again; I should know the rules better.
I was privileged to serve on the EU Internal Market Sub-Committee of your Lordships’ House. We conducted an inquiry into non-financial services, and I was very struck, not having known much about this before, by the importance of non-financial services. The sector makes up something like two-thirds of the total of the services trade. This is important, particularly for people who think that services just mean finance and the City. It is far broader than that and a lot of members of my own party might better understand that point.
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We took evidence from architects, broadcasters and lawyers—covering a full range of services—and what struck me most in their evidence was the importance attached to free movement as a positive business advantage that they enjoyed. That point came out in many different representations. Clearly, if we leave the EU—which I do not want to see happen—free movement will come to an end. But what scope will the Government make to try to replicate the benefits of free movement for our service sector in the immigration policy that they then pursue? Secondly, are they willing to be flexible in their immigration rules when they consider negotiations on services? Are we saying that we have the autonomous right to determine our own immigration policy and the rest can go away and live with it, or are we prepared to give concessions on free movement for the benefit of businesses based in Britain? What does the Minister have to say on those questions, which are of crucial importance and are very unclear in what the Government have so far said about their immigration policy?
In my view, this is a very important aspect of Brexit that has been greatly neglected in the discussions. All the talk has been about the customs union, integrated supply chains and all the rest, which are of course all important, and on this side of the House we are very anxious to see a customs union. But a customs union is not by any means the only way of mitigating the damage of Brexit. For the services sector, some replication of free movement will be essential. What is the Government’s response to that?