Brexit: Financial Assistance for Businesses

Lord Empey Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

The noble Baroness asked rather a lot of questions there; I will try to answer one or two of them. Northern Ireland will continue to be part of the UK customs territories, and practical information will be required for goods moving from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland. This will be provided electronically, and the Government will work with the EU to minimise the impact to traders. Through the grant system that I mentioned in my Answer, we have seen 3,000 customs agents trained over the last 18 months, and that process will continue.

[Lord Empey (UUP)]

My Lords, the Minister has effectively conceded that there will be a regulatory border in the Irish Sea, but there is confusion over that because the Prime Minister is saying that there will not be. Either there is or there is not. Will the Minister confirm that any additional costs attributed to administering that will in fact be met by Her Majesty’s Government and that businesses will not be disadvantaged in any way?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, the negotiation is a dynamic process; we are at the beginning of what will be a very fractious negotiation over the next nine months. I tell those noble Lords with a gentle stomach that what we are seeing today are the opening remarks of the EU: it is going to get a lot hotter over the next nine months, and we will know more clearly probably by the middle of December.