Northern Ireland Protocol Bill

Lord Russell of Liverpool Excerpts

2nd reading
Tuesday 11th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Russell of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, believe it or not, we are only five weeks into His Majesty’s new Government. I suspect that, if others around the Chamber feel like me, it probably feels more like five months. However, in effect, the Government have been in office for only three weeks because of the unfortunate death of Her Majesty. One might have hoped that that would have given the Administration time to think through some of the things they were trying to do.

The Government have a range of huge political and economic challenges. At the beginning of the debate, I was amused in the wrong way when the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth, appealed for unity across the House. I thought that was a slight case of the pot calling the kettle black, given the current problems there appear to be within his own party.

In order to calm things down, the Government have decided to push forward with this Bill—to negotiate with, in effect, an unstable hand grenade in one hand and a pen in the other. That is not a particularly compelling negotiating position. So how do we get out of jail with this particular problem? I have four suggestions to make to your Lordships for consideration.

The first, quite simply, is to be honest, and to remember the huge diaspora that the Government are talking to. They are not talking only to the 81,326 members of the Conservative Party who voted for the new Prime Minister, nor the 113 Members of the other place who voted for her. They are talking to the entire UK. If one puts all the different components of the so-called “anti-growth alliance” together and does the arithmetic, it makes up a majority of those qualified to vote in the UK—so that is not a great place to start.

One is talking of course to all of Northern Ireland. I heard today of the concept of “wise unionists”, which presumably means that there are less wise or unwise unionists. I will not opine which is which—others have done that for me. Clearly, we are talking to the EU, but we are also talking to the United States. I remember vividly, in February 2019—which was the first time I heard the subject raised in an intelligent way in your Lordships’ House—the noble Lord, Lord Putnam, talked about the fact that he spent a very large part of his professional time in the United States and had many friends there, and was conscious of how strong the Irish-American vote and political lobby were. He advised the Government to remember that and be careful. Unfortunately, that does not seem to have happened.

The second point is to admit your own mistakes, quickly and with contrition. People will be more ready to forgive and forget if you are honest. Do not obfuscate or evade. I thought some of the comments by some of the wise—or unwise—unionists, effectively saying, “The protocol was nothing to do with us”, were perhaps a trifle disingenuous.

Thirdly, do not needlessly antagonise those you need to do business with. The Government have managed to piss off the EU, this House and, even more formidably, the Delegated Powers Committee. Can one learn from the past, I wonder? I googled some of the ruminations of the noble Lord, Lord Frost, on how we got here. In his Churchill lecture in Zurich last year he said:

“We never wanted this appalling bitterness and it is frustrating to Brexiteers that we have somehow attracted much of the blame for it.”


The bit I particularly liked in that sentence was the “somehow”. I was not impressed by him effectively saying that Parliament had subverted his ability to negotiate. What is Parliament for if not to decide what we should be negotiating for and how we should negotiate?

Fourthly and lastly, I am not a Northern Ireland expert; my first degree is in history. It is often said that in Ireland there is no present and there is no future; there is only the past, endlessly repeating itself. It is clear that the sociodemographics of Northern Ireland are changing. The recent census has demonstrated that. Sentiment about the future of Ireland is beginning to change quite rapidly. I say that having spoken to various people who live in Northern Ireland and are observing what is going on. I suspect that part of that sentiment is that a large part of the population, I suspect particularly the younger part, want to look towards a future that is not defined by a wish to extend or recreate the past. I am reminded of King Canute trying to stop the tide coming in.

It is not on my CV, but in my early years I was a gravedigger. If you are a gravedigger, you know that at a certain point, if you go too far, the walls will fall in. I appeal to His Majesty’s Government: please stop digging.