Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) (SNP)

from the UK-Australia agreement to get it “over the line”, even though Australia has a history of coal pollution. Given that the current Prime Minister had to be shamed into attending COP27, does that mean that no legally binding demands will be made in the UK-India discussions?

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Drew Hendry

The Minister did not answer the question. The UK has rolled over 35 EU agreements and signed trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, yet they have included no realistically enforceable measure to plug the climate change gaps that we have pointed out in all of them from the start. The New Zealand text cannot be enforced and climate has been dropped altogether from the Australia deal. There are gleeful reports from India that there will be no more than warm words on climate change. Why is real action on the climate emergency ignored in every deal that this place brings forward?

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Nigel Huddleston (Conservative)

My hon. Friend and I have talked about this before. I know that the Secretary of State very much enjoyed her visit earlier this week. My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the great expertise in renewable energy and green technology sectors in the UK. We need to do more to export those fantastic skills. The Government take our export control responsibilities incredibly seriously, because there are some sensitive areas, but I am extremely mindful of the commercial pressures that businesses face and of the need to process export licences as swiftly and reasonably as possible. I would be happy to meet my hon. Friend to understand in more detail the specific issues that he is facing.

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