International Trade Committee
Oral evidence: UK trade negotiations: Agreement with Australia, HC 117
Wednesday 29 June 2022
Ordered by the House of Commons to be published on 29 June 2022.
Members present: Angus Brendan MacNeil (Chair); Mark Garnier; Sir Mark Hendrick, Tony Lloyd; Anthony Mangnall; Mark Menzies; Lloyd Russell-Moyle; Martin Vickers; Mick Whitley.
Question 250
Witnesses
I: Rt Hon. Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP, Secretary of State for International Trade; and Crawford Falconer, Second Permanent Secretary and Chief Trade Negotiator Adviser, Department for International Trade.
Witnesses: Rt Hon. Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Crawford Falconer.
Q250 Chair: Welcome to the International Trade Committee’s session on Australia. We had called the Secretary of State, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, but we are told that she will not be coming this morning, to the unanimous disappointment of all members of the Committee. We feel that this shows disrespect to the Committee, and we are very disappointed. We also feel that the CRaG report should be delayed to allow proper time for scrutiny. We think, unanimously, that this sets a very worrying precedent for the way the Government are dealing with scrutiny of their free trade agreements.