Wrexham houses the largest trading estate in the UK, and sits just 4 miles from the English border. It is vital that we have unfettered access to the rest of the UK as we transition out of the European Union. The UK Internal Market Bill, does just that. That is why I am pleased to say that I voted in favour of the Bill, protecting jobs, livelihoods, and growth across the whole of the UK.
Nothing is more important right now that protecting public health and supporting our economic recovery from coronavirus. This Bill will ensure all four nations can overcome Covid together, promoting good cooperation between the Westminster and devolved governments.
Last month, I welcomed the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Alok Sharma MP, to Wrexham to meet with one of the businesses situated on the trading estate to discuss the importance of being able to trade seamlessly across all home nations. You can read more about the Ministers visit below.
The UK Internal Market Bill will:
- Ensure businesses in all parts of the UK can continue to trade seamlessly across the country as they do now, protecting jobs and supporting the economy. The UK Internal Market Bill will ensure businesses can continue to trade unhindered across all parts of the UK, avoiding unnecessary burdens and costs being placed on businesses or consumers and providing certainty that people can work and trade freely anywhere in the UK.
- Protect the UK’s centuries-old internal market, by ensuring goods and services in one part of the UK are recognised in the others and ensuring a fair playing field for all companies. Through our UK Internal Market Bill, we will enshrine the principle of mutual recognition, so goods and services from one part of the UK will be recognised across the country, and the principle of non-discrimination, so there is equal opportunity for companies trading in the UK, regardless of where they are based.
- Ensure high standards are protected across the whole UK. Our legislation will maintain consistently high standards across the whole UK, promoting cooperation between the UK Parliament and the devolved legislatures. There will be no diminution in our food hygiene or animal welfare standards.
- Guarantee more powers for Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England after the end of the EU transition period. At the end of the transition period, powers in at least 70 policy areas previously exercised at an EU level will flow directly to the devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast for the first time. None of the powers currently held by the devolved administrations will be removed.
- Allow the UK Government to invest in communities across all of the home nations, bolstering our economic recovery from coronavirus. By clarifying that subsidy control is a reserved matter for the UK Government, the Bill will, from January 2021, provide the UK Government with new powers to spend taxpayers’ money previously administered by the EU. This means the UK can invest in communities and businesses nationwide with powers covering infrastructure, economic development, culture, sport, and support for educational, training and exchange opportunities.