European Union (Withdrawal Arrangements) Bill

Caroline Nokes Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 6th December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) for his Bill. It is disappointing that I will not get to make a speech on it; I trust that you will show me a little leniency, Madam Deputy Speaker, in my intervention as I have deliberately not jumped up and down during others’ speeches.

Does my right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson) agree that those in this House underestimate at their peril the damage caused by the current arrangements? Unionism is reeling at the fact that our mother Parliament has sacrificed and continues to sacrifice Northern Ireland on the altar of political expediency. Unionism has had enough. Businesses and consumers have had enough. They cannot get plants, seeds or trees from GB. They cannot bring in farm machinery, just because it may have British soil on its wheels. They cannot bring seed potatoes from Scotland. All traditions in Northern Ireland—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. I think the hon. Lady has made her point. I call Gavin Robinson.

[Gavin Robinson]

I acknowledge the position that my hon. Friend outlines in her contribution. I wish it was not the case that so few Members will get to contribute. Indeed, I arranged for my right hon. Friend the Member for East Antrim (Sammy Wilson) to lead for my party on the Bill—but he decided that I should—because I want to ensure that people get the opportunity to contribute.

Just as we make our point today, we will make it on Tuesday. I encourage other Unionists to vote with us. It will trigger a review that I think will be important; I hope that it will not be dismissed in the way that the concerns being raised today or in the past are being dismissed by Members here. The review will take evidence and suggest how the arrangements may change. The purpose of Intertrade UK and the independent monitoring panel was to provide an evidence base for us to draw on when the review was triggered, but another aspect of the Government’s inability to honour the commitments they entered into back in January and February is that their reluctance and lethargy means that that information will not be available. That is a shame. It is a complete shame that the work was put in to make sure that we could have these discussions in a robust, evidence-based and honourable way, but the information simply will not be available.

I wish the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim well with his Bill. He knows the frailties of the private Member’s Bill process, and we do not know where the Bill will end up, but the issues raised and the principles engaged, and the imperative to keep working at this properly, to the benefit of the people of Northern Ireland in our United Kingdom, will not be diminished today, and they will not go away.

--- Later in debate ---

[Claire Hanna]

Of course I was listening. I do listen, and as the hon. and learned Member said, I try to find consensus, but people were forced to listen, because—for whatever reason—large parts of the media have indulged this argument for many years. He knows that he has had an outsized platform in the media. We have listened and tried to resolve this issue. As I have stated very clearly numerous times over the past eight years and in the past few minutes, unfortunately, no consent for Brexit was sought or given. That decision was not afforded the luxury of being cross-community, so we have to protect the mitigations through a majority vote as well. As I say, everybody wants to solve the problems, but I do not hear any solutions. We get more of the magical sovereignty dust, the Henry VIII powers, and suggestions that some future Minister will come up with some solution that has not appeared in the past eight years. This is about solving problems, Jim; that is what people elect us to do.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

Order.

[Claire Hanna]

I will tell the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim that our constituents elect us not to mine grievances, or to use the protocol as a receptacle for every bit of frustration about progress and the modern world, but to solve the problems that are before them. That is all that is left for us to do, calmly as leaders and as neighbours—to work through the challenges, streamline the processes, find workarounds and accept the honour of compromise. We got Brexit, which a lot of us did not want, but we are also getting the protections to help mitigate it and reconcile it with our politics and our geography.

I said this earlier, and will say it again: hundreds of thousands of us constitutionally compromise every day, because we are democrats and because we accept the principle of consent and the framework that most people in Northern Ireland want. There was, if not rejoicing, certainly respect for the fact that the Democratic Unionist party appeared to accept that in February, when it brought back the Assembly and agreed to work through these solutions, but it continues to rankle with people that constitutional compromise is expected of those of us who are not Unionists, but will not be tolerated by those who are. Let us move forward—that is what the people have consistently asked us to do in eight elections, and it is what the Assembly asked us to do last week. Let us grab the opportunities. Yes, dual market access is not perfect, but we have heard from businesses time and again that the first thing they want from us is stability. I am begging Members opposite to ensure that stability, and not to tear down the structures that it has taken eight years for us to create. I do not believe the electorate will forgive you if you do that.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

“Him”, not “you”. I call Sir Iain Duncan Smith.