Northern Ireland Border

Debate between George Eustice and Stephen Farry

Thursday 3rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

My hon. Friend makes an incredibly important point. The Government stand absolutely full square behind the Belfast/Good Friday agreement, which is built on the principle of consent within the communities in Northern Ireland. It respects the role of Northern Ireland within the UK and the importance of unfettered trade between GB and Northern Ireland as a component part of the UK, and I assure my hon. Friend that the Government are absolutely committed to finding a solution. That is why my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary continues to endeavour to get a sensible resolution to this issue.

[Stephen Farry (North Down) (Alliance)]

The protocol exists due to the choices made by this Government about the nature of Brexit, and in order to protect the very particular circumstances faced in Northern Ireland. I want to make it very clear that it is already the policy of the devolved Executive from May 2020 that the checks be implemented, and the legal adviser to the Executive is the current Attorney General, not the former Attorney General. Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to find long-term, sustainable and legal pragmatic solutions to the issues with SPS, and also with customs? If we are asking the European Union to subcontract more and more functions around the marginal checks to the UK authorities, trust is essential, and anything that undermines trust is entirely counter-productive.

[George Eustice]

As the hon. Gentleman will know, the Northern Ireland protocol had a number of requirements, including that there should not be unnecessary checks on goods going from GB to Northern Ireland, ensuring that that trade could continue, and ensuring that the principles of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement in all its dimensions were respected. That is why the UK Government are seeking some changes and modifications to the way in which it is interpreted. Finally, it is not for the European Commission to unilaterally interpret what the Northern Ireland protocol means: its interpretation must be bilaterally agreed.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between George Eustice and Stephen Farry

Thursday 28th October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Farry (North Down) (Alliance)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice)]

Next week, the UK will host COP26 in Glasgow. Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing our planet. Both the COP President-designate, my right hon. Friend the Member for Reading West (Alok Sharma), and the Prime Minister have set out the areas where we hope to make progress. My noble Friend Lord Goldsmith and I have held many meetings with countries on the agenda the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has been leading on, specifically in relation to forests and nature-based solutions to climate change. We will be seeking progress on that agenda in the weeks ahead.

[Stephen Farry]

The current focus in addressing the sanitary and phytosanitary issues in relation to the Northern Ireland protocol now seems to be on a bespoke, specific arrangement for Northern Ireland. I and many others believe that, overall, a UK-EU veterinary agreement would be the best way forward for not only Northern Ireland but the entire UK. Is that objective still the position of the UK Government?

[George Eustice]

The position of the UK Government was set out very clearly and comprehensively in the Command Paper we published earlier this summer. We also have specialised committees working with EU and UK officials to resolve some of the technical and veterinary issues. We are clear, however, that we want goods to be able to travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without unnecessary barriers in the way.

UK Shellfish Exports

Debate between George Eustice and Stephen Farry

Monday 8th February 2021 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

We are doing everything possible to get the European Union to revisit the decision it appears to have taken and revert to its original interpretation of the law, which we believe to be right. We believe the approach it has taken is not consistent with EU law and is completely unjustified under either animal health or public health reasons. That is why we are working very hard to get the position changed.

[Stephen Farry (North Down) (Alliance) [V]]

The UK currently has a very basic trading regime with the EU with respect to food, akin to World Trade Organisation rules. Surely these problems with shellfish and other food exports point to the need for a UK-EU veterinary agreement, which could be negotiated through the sanitary and phytosanitary standards specialised committee. Does the Secretary of State recognise that such an agreement would go a long way to defusing many of the current tensions around the Northern Ireland protocol?

[George Eustice]

I very much agree with the point that the hon. Gentleman raises. Of course, during the negotiations, we made arguments to the European Union around equivalence—the fact that we could recognise each other’s equivalence and have more proportionate regimes. At that point, the EU was simply unwilling to entertain such a discussion, but it has veterinary agreements with countries such as New Zealand, with lower levels of inspection and simpler procedures to enable trade to continue. Of course, we very much hope that, now that the trade and co-operation agreement is in place, the EU will see fit to be much more pragmatic and proportionate in the measures it puts in place.

EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement: Fishing Industry

Debate between George Eustice and Stephen Farry

Thursday 14th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

My right hon. Friend raises an important point, which is that while we have reached a quota sharing and access agreement for five and a half years, we do have the freedom to set our own regulations. We have already banned pulse trawling, and we are consulting on and will soon be bringing forward measures to further protect the Dogger Bank. We will continue to look for opportunities to use technical measures to enhance conservation in our waters.

[Stephen Farry (North Down) (Alliance) [V]]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for his work to date on the particular fishing issues relating to Northern Ireland, but would he recognise that there are some outstanding matters, including a permanent commitment that Northern Ireland boats can land products in local ports without sanitary and phytosanitary or other checks, addressing the exclusion of Northern Ireland boats from all but two ports in the Republic of Ireland and ensuring that new quota allocations reflect the existing fixed quota allocation units?

[George Eustice]

Yes, there are some issues in Northern Ireland that we are working through. For the purposes of regulation, we have taken the position that Northern Ireland vessels should not require an SPS check or a catch certificate to land in their home port. Such an idea would clearly be ridiculous, so we are not requiring that, and we have agreed that with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. There are some remaining issues about the Northern Ireland protocol and some of the easements we have had on trade and what will replace them, and we are working closely with the Commission and with colleagues in DAERA to agree on that.