Northern Ireland

Lord Lexden Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

For the record, I believe I said that we will make Brexit work for everyone and find the benefits of Brexit.

[Lord Lexden (Con)]

Will the Government publish a checklist of the measures in the Command Paper that have now been implemented, together with an indication of when the other measures will be implemented? In view of the slight confusion that has arisen, will the Government confirm that they have completely scrapped the legal duties that had been placed on Ministers to promote an all-Ireland economy, as the Command Paper pledged?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My Lords, I have the full list of where we have delivered, where we are in progress and where we are tied to EU reset and business readiness; I will speak to colleagues about making that publicly available. With regard to the all-Ireland economy, the Government are committed to protecting the UK-Ireland internal market and the Windsor Framework, including all aspects of the Northern Ireland economy. Section 10(1)(b) refers to the joint report between the UK and EU negotiators of October 2017, which refers—among other things—to the all-Ireland economy. The all-Ireland economy is a fact and is greatly to the benefit of the businesses and people of Northern Ireland, as is Northern Ireland’s trade with the UK internal market.