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Written Question
Borders: Northern Ireland
Thursday 25th April 2019

Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have allocated funds for work to find an alternative to the Withdrawal Agreement Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland; and if so, what level of funds have been allocated.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Prime Minister announced on the 26th February that alternative arrangements to the backstop will be a priority for the UK and EU during the next phase of negotiations.

The Government intends to establish three advisory groups to help inform the UK’s negotiations with the EU. The Government will make available £20m of funding to support the development, testing or piloting of ideas that emerge from these groups where the Government believes it would be helpful.

Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 18 Jun 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"My Lords, I was not keen on the amendment originally proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Patten of Barnes, and I still think there are issues with the proposal before us.

Reference has been made to the joint report issued in December last year. The problem is that that was …..."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"My Lords, naively, I thought we were discussing the relevance of the amendment to the Bill but I am afraid we have moved on to another Second Reading debate.

There a few specific items I want to mention about the amendment. I do not know how “hard border” is defined …..."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"I am grateful to the noble Lord for that. I have to say that the chief constable was using as an example the erection of customs posts and things that used to exist in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as all sorts of other concrete establishments and so on …..."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"I understand what the noble Lord is saying perfectly well. To put this into context, my party supported remain in the referendum, on a free vote. We cited two things: Scotland and the border. I have had this discussion with the noble Lord, Lord Cormack. I am not a Europhile …..."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"I was not responding to that part of the amendment but I am quite happy to give my opinion on it. I think that a number of measures can be achieved. First, the Republic is not in Schengen, and that is helpful. Clearly, there has to be co-operation between the …..."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"First, I believe that you cannot leave the European Union and remain in the single market and the customs union. I am making the point that the December statement has a contradiction in it...."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"No, I do not. Our big market is here; it is not in the Republic. The same applies to Scotland and everywhere else. The common market of the United Kingdom is more important to us economically than the European Union...."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Wed 14 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"It is an incompatibility. There is no point in replacing one incompatibility with another. I am simply saying that if you are in the customs union and the single market, you are in the European Union. If you are out of the European Union, you are not in the single …..."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
Speech in Lords Chamber - Mon 12 Mar 2018
European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

"My Lords, before we whip ourselves into a lather of outrage at the prospect of doing something without the consent of the devolved Administrations, perhaps I may remind the House that we have a short memory. The devolution settlement in Northern Ireland represented by the 1998 Act was butchered—a term …..."
Lord Empey - View Speech

View all Lord Empey (UUP - Life peer) contributions to the debate on: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill