web analytics
Politickengaging in political discussion or activity

EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill update 09 January 2020

by Politicker 0 Comments

The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill has continued its path through the House of Commons to a conclusion and has been passed on to the House of Lords for the next stage.

The Committee Stage of the Bill was completed after 2 days of debate on Tuesday and Wednesday 7-8 January 2020.

The selected amendments that were put to a vote were all won by the Government.

The Report Stage and Third Reading of the Bill were held on Thursday 9 January 2020. Following debate, and after a vote, the Third Reading of the Bill was passed by 330 votes in favour and 231 against.

The Bill has completed its passage through the House of Commons and has been sent to the House of Lords for scrutiny with the Second Reading stage starting on Monday 13 Jan 2020. The Bill is expected to complete its journey through the House of Lords by 22 Jan 2020.

Bill as introduced in the House of Lords – (Copy pdf)

Explanatory Notes – (Copy pdf)

European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill

by Politicker 0 Comments

The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill has started it’s journey through Parliament. The First Reading was held on Thursday 19 December following the State Opening of Parliament after the Queens Speech.

Details of the Bill and its progress can be found on Parliament’s website at

https://services.parliament.uk/Bills/2019-20/europeanunionwithdrawalagreement.html

and a copy of the Bill is available at

Bill 001 2019-20 (as introduced) (pdf)

or

EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill Dec 2019 (pdf)

Explanatory notes can be found at

https://services.parliament.uk/Bills/2019-20/europeanunionwithdrawalagreement/documents.html

or in the attached document

EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill Dec 2019 Explanatory Notes (pdf)

In summary, the Bill is to implement, and make other provision in connection with, the agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union which sets out the arrangements for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU.

The Second Reading of the Bill was held on 20 December 2019. None of the proposed amendments were selected for debate.

The debate started at 9:40 am and continued until 2:14 pm when a vote was held.

The Second Reading of the Bill was passed by 358 votes in favour with 234 votes against.

In a breakdown of the figures (provided in Hansard)

For:

Conservative: 353

Labour: 6

Against:

Alliance: 1
Democratic Unionist Party: 7
Green Party: 1
Independent: 1
Labour: 162
Liberal Democrat: 11
Plaid Cymru: 4
Scottish National Party: 45
Social Democratic & Labour Party: 2

In a second vote ( on a motion which defines the future program for the passage of the Bill through Parliament) the vote was 353 votes in favour and 243 against.

This sets out the timetable for the Bill to proceed to the Committee Stage and to have a total of 16 hours allowed for debate over 2 days before proceeding to the Third Reading. The next day for debate is scheduled for 7 January 2020 following the MPs Christmas break.

The Bill has now been referred to a Committee of the Whole House starting on 7 January 2020. Proceedings will continue on the Bill on 8 January 2020 and will conclude with remaining stages on Thursday 9 January 2020.

UK overseas trade in goods, October 2019

by Politicker 0 Comments

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) collects the UK’s international trade in goods data for Non-EU and EU trade with the UK. These are published on a monthly basis and figures for October 2019 have recently been released. (10 December 2019).

UK overseas trade in goods statistics: October 2019

A summary is provided in a document available at

UK Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics Commentary: October 2019

Summary

Total exports of goods for October 2019 were £34.3 billion.

Total imports of goods for October 2019 were £53.4 billion.

The UK was a net importer this month, with imports exceeding exports by £19.1 billion.

For EU trade the UK was a net importer this month, with imports exceeding exports by £10.0 billion.

For Non-EU trade the UK was a net importer this month, with imports exceeding exports by £9.1 billion.

Imports to the UK

EU Imports for October 2019 were £25.6 billion.

Non-EU Imports for October 2019 were £27.8 billion.

Germany accounted for 11.4% (£6.1bn) of the total value of imports to the UK. China had the second largest proportion of the total value of trade, accounting for 9.9% (£5.3bn) followed by the USA 9.0% (£4.8bn), the Netherlands 8.2% (£4.4bn) and France 5.3% (2.8bn). The top five partner countries accounted for 43.8% of total UK import value this month.

Exports from the UK

EU Exports for October 2019 were £15.6 billion

Non-EU Exports for October 2019 were £18.7 billion.

The USA accounted for 17.8% (£6.1bn) per cent of the total value of goods exports from the UK. Germany had the second largest proportion, accounting for 9.6% (£3.3bn), followed by China with 6.6% (£2.3bn), France with 6.5% (£2.2bn), and the Irish Republic at 6.3% (£2.1bn). The top five export partners accounted for 46.8% of total exports in goods this month.

Spreadsheets are available which show the figures in more detail.

UK overseas trade in goods statistics October 2019: import and export data

The following tables contain EU and Non-EU import and export data for October 2019.

UK overseas trade in goods statistics October 2019: imports

UK overseas trade in goods statistics October 2019: exports

css.php