Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme (Amendment) (Extension to Maritime Activities) Order 2026

Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee Excerpts

Thursday 12th March 2026 Lords Chamber

Already, at our Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee, on which I have the privilege to serve, we have heard evidence from representatives of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium and the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry about the grave detriment that the Windsor Framework is having on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The retail consortium said it was no gain and all pain. I urge noble Lords to read that evidence and to understand what is really going on in the economic damage being done to Northern Ireland. It is extremely important that the Government think again.

[Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (Non-Afl)]

Does the noble Lord have any information as to whether the Government have considered this scheme under the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, given that we are told that the exemptions for the Western Isles come from a duty under, I think, the Scotland Act? Surely, the discrimination that is evident here is contrary to that UK internal market Act.

[Lord Dodds of Duncairn (DUP)]

I thank the noble Baroness, who raises a very important point, because when the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper was published, and was heavily sold in order to get the restoration of the Assembly and the Executive and so on, great emphasis was put upon this guarantee in the United Kingdom Internal Market Act that this would ensure Northern Ireland would not be put at any detriment by the introduction of new measures and so on. So, I echo what the noble Baroness has said and ask the Minister to address that specific piece of legislation, which is meant to protect Northern Ireland as part of the UK internal market. The sad reality, of course, is that that is overridden. Not to pre-empt the Minister’s answer, but I suggest he will probably say that it is overridden by the superior obligation to the EU under Section 7A of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. That is the real answer, even if he does not say it, and until we address that point we will not get any satisfactory resolution to the problems that we have.

I have a number of questions for the Minister. On the issue of the Scottish exemption, he really needs to come forward and explain, on this issue of economic unfairness, what the rationale is for excluding Northern Ireland. What is the rationale for comparing Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic in saying that a 50% reduction is satisfactory, given that this is what applies on trade between the Irish Republic and Great Britain, when Northern Ireland businesses are in competition with their British counterparts on the mainland? This is the comparison that needs to be made. Traders, consumers and businesses in the rest of the United Kingdom do not have to concern themselves so much—hardly at all, most of them—with any maritime transport issues, but Northern Ireland is utterly dependent upon that, so the issue of why the Scottish islands are exempt and Northern Ireland is not needs to be addressed.

There is an issue about where the money is going from this. There is no reference to the fact that this money will be used in any particular way. It is important that the Minister clarifies how the revenue is going to be used to help in relation to decarbonisation, if at all. I want to ask the Minister about the time to prepare, since the order was published on 13 January. It seems to me that there is an inordinate rush to get this through. What is the reason for that? Would one solution not be to give more time for consultation before this is brought into full implementation?

I want to ask about the maritime decarbonisation fund, with £271 million in funding to support shipping and coastal communities. Will Northern Ireland have access to that fund? I want to ask about state aid provisions in this regard, because under the Windsor Framework we are under the EU state aid regime, not the UK state aid regime. Is there any impediment to access to that fund for operators in Northern Ireland as a result of those state aid obligations? I would like a clear answer, because there seems to be some confusion on the issue and it would be helpful if the Minister would spell it out.

This is a very important debate. It raises a number of issues, not only substantive ones to do with the economy and trade. Those are important, but it has exposed a wider issue about the political process, which has been very helpfully and skilfully brought to light by both the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, and noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, in introducing their Motions. It will do damage to the political process in Northern Ireland. This type of manoeuvring by the Northern Ireland Office is extremely unhelpful to the Assembly set-up, which is fragile and difficult enough.

It seems that the NIO engages with the Assembly only on its terms and when it is in its advantage to push its particular arguments. It does not seem to operate as a voice for Northern Ireland within the Cabinet or Whitehall machinery, and that really needs to be looked at. We were promised that there would be an engagement unit set up between the Cabinet Office and the Northern Ireland Executive under the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper. What has happened to that? It seems that the NIO picks and chooses whatever it wishes to raise as issues but does so to implement its view of what should happen, rather than advancing the cause of Northern Ireland within the Whitehall set-up.