To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2016 to Question 26772, whether (a) legal costs and (b) compensatory payments resulting from investor state dispute settlement claims relating to the acts of local authorities would be passed onto those local authorities; and if he will make a statement.
Answered on
14 March 2016
If the UK were to lose a claim brought under the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism of a trade and investment treaty which relates to an act of a local authority, the Government would typically be responsible for legal costs incurred and compensatory payments awarded by the ISDS tribunal. However, the UK has a good record of creating the right environment for investors and treating them fairly – we have over 90 such agreements in place with other countries and there has never been a successful ISDS claim brought against the UK.