Brexit: European Council and Commission

Lord Bridges of Headley Excerpts

Tuesday 27th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan]

We are pursuing many of these multilateral agreements in a whole range of areas, including trade agreements, and we are confident that we have enough time to complete those negotiations.

[Lord Bridges of Headley (Con)]

Perhaps my noble friend could clarify a point from the Statement yesterday. In the Statement, the Prime Minister said that,

“we remain committed to the agreement we reached in December in its entirety”.

A little later, she said, on the Northern Ireland border:

“I have explained that the specific European Commission proposals for that backstop were unacceptable”.—[Official Report, Commons, 26/3/18; col. 524.]


Which is it: do we accept the agreement in its entirety or do we not?

[Lord Callanan]

I thank my noble friend for his question. The Government are committed to the avoidance of a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls. The UK’s intention is to achieve these objectives through the overall EU-UK relationship. Should this not be possible, the UK would propose specific solutions to address the unique circumstances of the island of Ireland.