Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Rosindell Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn]

I indicated to the House some months ago that we were determined to find a means of dealing with the Supreme Court judgment in 2020 on the subject of the Carltona principle. That is what our proposed legislation will seek to remedy. We think it is a better formulation than sections 46 and 47, and I look forward to the hon. Gentleman’s support in passing it.

[Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to maintain Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market.

[The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)]

The Government are committed to safeguarding Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market and to implementing the Windsor framework in good faith. The internal market scheme enables traders to move goods from Great Britain into Northern Ireland tariff-free and, since May, with significantly reduced paperwork and checks.

[Andrew Rosindell]

It is a disgrace that the “Safeguarding the Union” provisions severely restrict trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, binding the Province to 300 areas of EU law over which the people have no say. Will the Secretary of State take steps to remove what is left of this damaging international trade border within our own nation and restore the birthright of the people of Northern Ireland as equal citizens of this United Kingdom?

[Hilary Benn]

I say to the hon. Gentleman and those who advocated that we should leave the European Union: this is the consequence of it. There was an open border and two different jurisdictions—how were we going to deal with trade in those circumstances? Secondly, the goods are flowing; the goods are moving. Look at the evidence: the Northern Ireland economy in the second quarter grew by 2%. That is not indicative of a problem.