I rise to speak to new clause 61. CF Fertilisers owns Britain's only two complexes still making fertilisers in this country. Its comments are simple enough. David Hopkins writes:“Right across the country, the chemical industry has made a huge investment into REACH compliance. It is not perfect - far from it. It is however becoming an international standard, and our compliance with - and involvement in - such a regulation is essential in enabling us to continue trading effectively across border, both from an import point of view but much more significantly from an export perspective.â€Neil Hollis of BASF says:“BASF does not take a rigid view on whether REACH is the best possible regulation for current and new chemicals, but it is established, tested and most importantly, a requirement for selling chemicals within the EU. Regardless of what model of Brexit any of us prefer, that isn't going to change...Our supply chains, operating between ten UK manufacturing plants, and many more across Europe, require clarity that materials can be legally processed and sold, in transition, and after the UK has left the EU.â€Philip Bailey, general manager of Lucite International, reminds me of the investment that takes place in my constituency. He says:“We have many concerns about the implications of Brexit on our ability to trade effectively and competitively within the EU, where we export 60-70% of our products.â€The Chemical Industries Association reminds us that UK companies hold 6,364 registrations covering 2,563 substances. In that respect, the UK is second only to Germany. The association says:“The UK Government's decision to leave the single market will have significant implications.â€On Monday I raised the issue directly with the Prime Minister after her EU summit speech. I asked whether she could offer some reassurance to the chemical companies that the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals regulation would apply after we left the EU and beyond the implementation phase. Sadly, she had no such reassurance to give, dismissing my concerns and those of the industry as just another area for negotiators to talk about. This is about so much more than that. The very future of our chemical industry is at stake. I fear that if we do not retain a system that enables our chemical companies to remain within REACH, some of the forward planning that we hear about will not be for the UK; it will be for elsewhere, and we will pay for that in terms of investment and jobs. For Teesside, which leads the world in so many ways in chemicals, the outcome could be particularly bad. We need Ministers to spell out very specifically how the UK will ensure that our chemical companies have the business environment and associated regulations that will guarantee their future trade.