Northern Ireland Protocol Bill

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 11th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kerr of Kinlochard (CB)]

My Lords, I find the Bill rather shocking, and I fear that we have to stand up and be counted and send it back to the other place. I find it shocking in four distinct ways. First, there is the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Howard. The protocol is an integral part of the withdrawal treaty. I share a lot of the distaste that the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, expressed for the protocol. I think that the democratic deficit point is real. But it is an integral part of a treaty that the noble Lord’s Prime Minister negotiated and signed, which was commended to this House and the other House and which we voted for and ratified—and this country does not break treaties it signs: pacta sunt servanda. It has been demonstrated by the noble Lords, Lord Pannick and Lord Howard, that the doctrine of necessity simply does not apply in this case. Ours is an honourable country, which means that we cannot, in my view, approve the Bill.

Secondly, it is a power grab by the Executive. This point was made by the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher. It is astonishing to see our Delegated Powers Committee pointing out that the power grab is

“unprecedented in its cavalier treatment of Parliament”.

As the noble Baroness said, the Bill allows Ministers to do by regulation anything that normally could be done by an Act of Parliament, including amending provisions that have been enacted. That is autocracy. That is not a parliamentary system.

Thirdly, it is an act of self-harm. The withdrawal treaty is the foundation on which the trade and co-operation treaty is built. I do not see how the 27 could continue to allow us the TCA’s duty-free access to their market if we had broken our word and torn up the foundation treaty. I applaud the Prime Minister’s rapprochement with President Macron in Prague, but the Bill would destroy any chance of building grown-up relationships with our neighbours in continental Europe. The EU has held off so far, but it would have to say “See you in court” and it would have to take retaliatory measures—a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Ricketts.

Fourthly, the noble Lord, Lord Browne, argued that having the Bill’s provisions on the statute book would strengthen our hand in the current negotiations with the EU—and I am very glad that the negotiations have at last restarted. It is argued that having the gun on the table will concentrate EU minds. I am afraid there are two fatal flaws in that argument. First, the EU would resent and resist being blackmailed. It would have to, if only for reasons of precedent. Secondly, the gun is at our head. If it goes off, it is we who suffer.

What about Northern Ireland? This Bill would seriously damage Northern Ireland if our Government were to use the powers it confers on them. Northern Ireland would be out of the single market and all-Ireland links would be broken. As the noble Lord, Lord Jay, said, business in Northern Ireland really wants an end to the current uncertainty. That is the most important thing for business in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland does not want the end of the protocol. Northern Ireland wants the end of uncertainty.

So each of these four facts seems to me to be sufficient to require us to ask the other place to think again. Cumulatively, the case is overwhelming. We have to stand up and be counted.