Oral Answers to Questions

Marion Fellows Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd September 2020 Commons Chamber

[Anna McMorrin (Cardiff North) (Lab)]

What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department’s role in helping ensure that the Government is compliant with the rule of law.

[Marion Fellows (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)]

What assessment he has made of the implications of the UK Internal Market Bill for his responsibilities in upholding the rule of law.

[The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Robert Buckland)]

I am absolutely committed, under the oath I took as Lord Chancellor, to upholding the rule of law; the freedoms and protections we all enjoy rely on it, and as a responsible Government, we remain wholly committed to it. At all stages, as a responsible Government, we must ensure that we have the ability to uphold our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland. We will do what it takes to protect the integrity of our United Kingdom.

--- Later in debate ---

[Robert Buckland]

I thank the hon. Lady for her kind remarks.

Attractive and charismatic though the hon. Lady’s remarks might sound, they do not bear any scrutiny at all. The reality is that we are preparing for a situation that we do not wish to come about. It would have been far easier for us to ignore the matter and kick the can down the road, but it is far better to be upfront about the potential dispute. I hope and expect that it will never come, because we will get the deal and the Joint Committee will resolve its deliberations accordingly.

[Marion Fellows [V]]

May I also wish the Lord Chancellor a happy birthday? With age may come wisdom.

The Lord Chancellor has said that he will resign only if the Government break the law in a way that is unacceptable. Thousands of ordinary members of the public were fined for breaking lockdown regulations, while Dominic Cummings did so with impunity. Can the Lord Chancellor explain to those people what criteria he uses to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable breaches of the law?

[Robert Buckland]

I thank the hon. Lady for her kind remarks. The issue is very straightforward. If we are in a position where the EU has acted in material breach of its own treaty obligations, meaning that acts to the active prejudice of the United Kingdom are being occasioned, then we will act.