Oral Answers to Questions

Martyn Day Excerpts

Wednesday 8th December 2021 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Order.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

5. What progress the Government have made on negotiating revisions to the Northern Ireland protocol.

[Dame Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)]

7. What progress the Government have made on negotiations on the Northern Ireland protocol.

[The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Brandon Lewis)]

The status quo cannot continue. Nearly six months ago we presented a Command Paper outlining how we thought we could resolve the serious issues within the Northern Ireland protocol. The EU brought forward its own proposals, but these do not have the support of businesses or society and do not remove the need for unnecessary checks on goods that will remain in Northern Ireland and the UK internal market. We want a negotiated solution and we are engaging constructively but the gap between us is still large. We will do what we need to do to deliver for Northern Ireland.

[Martyn Day]

Members of this House have said on the record that the Prime Minister personally told them that the Northern Ireland protocol was being agreed with the specific intention to renege on it in the future, so how can any future trade or negotiating partner trust the UK when it is clearly acting in bad faith?

[Brandon Lewis]

The UK Government have been very clear and transparent about our intentions all the way through, as we were when we launched the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill last year, as we were when we took action back in March, and as we were when we published the Command Paper. The current situation with the Northern Ireland protocol is not working for the United Kingdom internal market and it is not working for anybody or any business in Northern Ireland. That is not sustainable and it needs to be corrected.