What I find interesting in the discussion is that there are calls for an active policy, an industrial policy and innovation, but that does not have very much to do with trade agreements, given that the markets are already open. In the last ten years, under the Conservatives, there was a laissez-faire approach when it came to an active policy for innovation and industry.
The agreements will limit the ability to adopt policies like that. The TPP agreements and free trade with the European Union, for example, prevent focusing on results, that is, basing investments on maintaining expertise here, on creating jobs, and on certain segments of the labour force.
An active innovation policy must have that freedom to legislate and regulate. Free trade agreements, as we know them, limit that ability. I agree with my colleagues that we need an active industrial policy when it comes to innovation, but the agreements limit that ability, and that is why we reject the TPP agreement.