Israel/Gaza

Lord Weir of Ballyholme Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Weir of Ballyholme (DUP)]

My Lords, I am sure the House will agree when I say that this is a debate which we wish we did not need to have. The world would be in an awfully better place had the terrible events of 7 October not happened and so many families would be spared heartbreak today. But we have been dragged here by the horrific barbarism of Hamas in committing murders, torture, rapes and abductions of an unprecedented scale and nature, killing more Jews in a single day than on any day in history since the end of the Holocaust, and doing so in an almost unimaginable horror inflicted on innocent civilians—men, women, children and even babies.

We also know that Hamas is no friend of the Palestinian people. It has oppressed ordinary Palestinians in Gaza. It has diverted resources, which are much needed in Gaza, towards military attacks on Israel. It has literally rained bombs down on its own people and has used, and continues to use, civilians as human shields. Hamas is simultaneously a barbaric bully and a craven coward. We need to call out Hamas for what it is. No more euphemisms: these are evil terrorists, instigating a pogrom on the Israeli people.

Like everyone in this House, I think, I want a long-term solution for the Middle East. We all crave peace and I join others in saying that, in the long run, a two-state solution is probably best for the area. However, in rightly seeking that long-term peace, we must avoid the temptation of trying to find short-term fixes. Solutions which leave Hamas with the capability of simply striking back at Israel at will are ones that will only store up more death and destruction in the long run. Hamas is an organisation that is not part of the solution. It is not part of peace and it seeks to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. It is an obstacle to peace and to having a long-term better way forward for everyone, Israeli and Palestinian alike.

While our focus is rightly on Israel and Gaza, and particularly the plight of the 200-plus hostages still being held by Hamas, there are also repercussions beyond the boundaries of Israel and Gaza, not least in our own country. For the Jewish communities in the United Kingdom, most have family relations or friends who live in Israel, and many know the victims of the events of 7 October. They are, in many cases, deeply concerned and scared today. So while it is right that every community and individual in the United Kingdom, of whatever background, should be safe from terror, fear, intimidation and violence, we must keep uppermost in our minds the Jewish community. They are frightened, in particular, when they see tens of thousands of people come on to the streets of the United Kingdom, many giving implicit cover, and some implicit support, for Hamas, with the kind of anti-Semitic, hateful rhetoric that the noble Baroness, Lady Eaton, has explained so clearly and which has led to a wide range of complaints. We need to see the police and courts deal with this in a robust manner.

It is also the case that this has not come from a blank page. Earlier this year, with other parliamentarians, I visited facilities which showed the extent to which Jewish properties have to be monitored from a security point of view for their own protection—and this was at a time when there was relative peace in the Middle East. Perhaps most shocking from that visit—I will not be too explicit in the details, for obvious reasons—was when we visited a Jewish primary school where children were being taken through drills on a regular basis of the preparations they needed to take in the event of intruders. I do not wish to go into the details of those procedures, as that would be utterly counterproductive, but noble Lords should reflect on that for a moment. These are five year-olds and older, having to live with this as part of their lives in the United Kingdom in 2023. That is not an isolated example; it is all too redolent of the experience of so many Jewish people in this country. This is why it is right to commit ourselves to long-term peace. It is also right that we send out a clear message that we stand by Israel and the Jewish people of the United Kingdom and beyond.

Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol: Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals (European Affairs Committee Sub-Committee Report)

Lord Weir of Ballyholme Excerpts

Friday 20th January 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Weir of Ballyholme (DUP)]

My Lords, I join others in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Jay, and the committee on this report; I welcome it and am happy to support all the recommendations. However, I do so in a context in which I have deep concern for the present and grave fears for the future.

The report rightly details that we need maximum scrutiny of EU legislation. I welcome in particular those parts of the report that deal with the detail and contents of Explanatory Memoranda, because, too often, Governments of whatever political hue tend to treat a requirement as a tick-box exercise. We must ensure that we have the maximum scrutiny.

However, the very thoroughness of the report highlights the fundamental problem that we have. The most detailed scrutiny that can be provided—if I can use an analogy—will present this Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the people of Northern Ireland with effectively a front-row seat as a spectator not of the match itself but of the match highlights, because the match has already taken place. Given that the JCWG meets with a level of confidentiality, we will not even get to see part of the match. It does not permit us to participate in the match in front of us. That is the fundamental democratic deficit.

British democracy, and indeed the foundations of world democracy, are based, on the one side, on the relationship between legislation and taxation and, on the other, on direct parliamentary representation and decision-making powers. The protocol renders that asunder. No matter what level of consultation, discussion or seats at tables that we have, unless there is throughout the United Kingdom the opportunity to reject or accept something democratically, we are simply in a position where laws are imposed on us.

Recommendation 7 of the Government’s response, which refers to paragraph 78 of the report, highlights the concern about divergence, in respect both of goods coming from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and of goods coming from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. Much has been said about the Irish sea border and the problems of movement between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It will mean, for example, that companies in Great Britain either will be at a disadvantage when trading with Northern Ireland or may in some cases be completely prevented from trading. For Northern Ireland, it will lead to increased costs for customers and consumers; it will lead to reduced choice. Even on that flow, it will massively disrupt the UK internal single market, to the disadvantage of Northern Ireland.

The disadvantages for Northern Ireland goods moving to the United Kingdom have perhaps been less understood. If we are in a regime in which there is increasing regulatory divergence, as highlighted by the report, it will mean that Northern Ireland access to the rest of the UK market will again be deeply disrupted, as my noble friend and colleague Lord Dodds indicated—roughly 70% of Northern Ireland’s trade is with the rest of the United Kingdom. As we move towards arrangements with other countries, it will mean that Northern Ireland goods will not be able to be produced to the same standards and regulations. That will mean a reluctance, indeed opposition at times, within the rest of the United Kingdom to take goods from Northern Ireland; it will directly disrupt trade that is there.

These are the fundamental problems. Unless the Government tackle them, and do not see them as just a few checks on trade, we are in danger of disregarding the major problem; we will simply reheat it. If the emperor has no clothes, simply giving the emperor a bit of a makeover and leaving them naked in the future is not to our advantage. Unless we tackle the fundamental problem of ensuring that we get an agreement which has cross-community support in Northern Ireland and genuinely listens to the concerns that are there, we are, at best, taking part in Groundhog Day and, at worst, heading towards a deteriorating situation both for trade and politics in Northern Ireland.