division_name: Nuclear Safeguards Bill &#8212; Transition period
motion: <p class="indent" pid="a164.2/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;conditions under which the UK is a member of EURATOM before exit day shall continue to apply&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a164.3/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;the Bill has been prepared on a contingency basis. The discussions around our continued arrangements with Euratom and with the rest of the European Union have not been concluded, but it is right to put in place in good time any commitments that are needed in primary legislation. Euratom has served the United Kingdom and our nuclear industries well, so we want to see maximum continuity of those arrangements.&#8221;&#8212;[Official Report, <phrase class="date" code="2018-10-16">16 October</phrase> 2017; Vol. 629, c. 617.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a169.1/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;My current project plan is that we establish a regime that intends to meet UK international obligations when we leave&#8221;.</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a169.1/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;build upon that to achieve a system that is equivalent to Euratom.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a169.3/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;we will not be able to replicate Euratom standards on day one.&#8221;&#8211;&#8211;[Official Report, Nuclear Safeguards Public Bill Committee, <phrase class="date" code="2018-10-31">31 October</phrase> 2017; c. 7, Q9.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a173.1/5" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Euratom is therefore a fundamental building block of the European Union and not an accessory. It cannot be separated out from the rest of the Union. Joining the EU means joining Euratom; leaving the EU means leaving Euratom&#8230;There is no such thing as associate membership of Euratom.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a174.0/2" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Andrew Duff has been quick to point out, correctly, that there is in fact no such thing as &#8216;associate membership&#8217; of Euratom or, indeed, of the EU for that matter. Non-member states can only be &#8216;associates&#8217; of the EU.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a182.5/4" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;A reasonable approximation is several years&#8212;it is not a matter of months but years for people to be able to do that job&#8230;It is a small talent pool&#8230;even in the best of times.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a182.5/6" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;I have been very clear from the outset in previous evidence sessions, and in discussions with industry as well as BEIS, that it would be unrealistic for us to expect to achieve an equivalent regime to what is in place currently by the time we officially leave Euratom, and that is March 2019.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a182.5/8" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;To deliver the new domestic regime the ONR will need to double the number of its inspectors by 2019, and triple its numbers by 2021. Skilling-up the new recruits on time will present additional challenges, as even existing specialists will require 12-18 months of training to become an inspector, and generalists may need five years.&#8221;</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a186.2/3" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;Our aim, currently, is to have a system in place that enables the UK to fulfil its international obligations by March 2019, which is when we intend to leave Euratom. I have been very clear in the past&#8212;I will repeat it here&#8212;that we will not be able to replicate Euratom standards on day one.&#8221;&#8211;&#8211;[Official Report, Nuclear Safeguards Public Bill Committee, <phrase class="date" code="2018-10-31">31 October</phrase> 2017; c. 7, Q9.]</p>
  
  <p class="indent" pid="a186.2/9" pwmotiontext="yes">&#8220;The advice would be that you do not have to accept this and it may not be in your interests to do so.&#8221;&#8211;&#8211;[Official Report, Nuclear Safeguards Public Bill Committee, <phrase class="date" code="2018-10-31">31 October</phrase> 2017; c. 12, Q23.]</p>
  
  <p class="italic" pid="a191.0/3" pwmotiontext="yes">The House divided:</p>
  
  <p pid="a191.0/4" pwmotiontext="yes">Ayes 255, Noes 294.</p>