Baroness Suttie (LD)

My Lords, in my two minutes I would like to make three brief points. First, I would like to deal with the regulations themselves. From these Benches, we support these short, technical regulations, which provide protection against external plant pests, particularly in tomatoes, peppers and ginger. We support greater alignment with the EU in general on these matters, which we believe will reduce friction to trade. Indeed, we would like to see the UK eventually rejoining the single market. However, as this debate has illustrated once again this evening, the issue is not so much about the substance of the regulations before us, but more about genuine concerns about democratic accountability and parliamentary oversight. Since we left the EU, we no longer have a voice in the European Parliament’s committees or other EU institutions when this type of highly technical but important regulation is discussed. We therefore have virtually no say or input into them. As we face an ever-greater number of these regulations stemming from dynamic alignment, it would be very helpful if the Minister could say whether the Government intend to publish a strategy for how Parliament will carry out its scrutiny role in future more effectively. Relying on regret Motions from the noble Lord, Lord Frost, the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, and others, does not amount to an acceptable strategy for parliamentary oversight. While I personally welcome the introduction of a time limit on these SI regret Motions, it is important to allow an adequate amount of time to ask the Minister questions or to seek clarification. Two minutes is very brief indeed in order to do this adequately. Finally, can the Minister give us an indication of when she expects to update the House on progress being made on negotiations on a wider SPS agreement?