Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the sources of funding for the anti-Brexit demonstrations outside Parliament; and whether any such sources are not based in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It is not the Department’s role to assess the sources of funding for those who choose to hold demonstrations, whether or not that funding originates in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 13 February (HL13385), which characteristics beyond infrastructure in their view constitute a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
From the outset of the negotiations the Prime Minister has been clear that there should be no return to the borders of the past, and that maintaining an open, seamless border has been the cornerstone for the success of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. That is why the December Joint Report made clear that the UK would avoid a hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls.
Last week, the Government published a Written Ministerial Statement noting that joint UK-EU work on alternative arrangements will be an important strand of the next phase of negotiations. In anticipation of this, and to ensure that the UK is ready to move at pace in the next phase, the Government is putting in place the UK’s arrangements to support this work, with a team drawing in all the relevant departments including DExEU, HMT, HMRC, BEIS, DEFRA, Home Office, and the NIO. This will report directly to the UK’s negotiating team.
Asked by: Lord Dobbs (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their definition of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; and whether this definition includes physical infrastructure on the border itself.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government will stand by its commitment in the Joint Report that there will be no hard border, this includes any physical infrastructure. This will allow people on either side of that border to be able to live their lives as they do now.