Northern Ireland

Paul Girvan Excerpts

Thursday 1st February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

I can give the hon. Gentleman that confirmation. It will be for Ministers to make sure that the panel is completely independent.

[Paul Girvan (South Antrim) (DUP)]

On the regulatory issues in Northern Ireland, several laws have been passed in Europe—we hear that up to 300 have gone through since we agreed to leave—and some of those are already in place in Northern Ireland. As part of the review, is it possible to look at those that have been implemented to make sure that we get rid of those that we can? That mechanism should be in place.

[Chris Heaton-Harris]

The review will be based on the entirety of law, but essentially it has to look forward. The hon. Gentleman is right that there is always a pipeline of European Union law. I was a Member of the European Parliament for 10 years, and I saw at first hand the quantity of law that came from the European Union. The point I would make to him is that had we been able to get to this place earlier, we would have had the Stormont brake in operation earlier, and Northern Ireland Assembly Members might well have been able to trigger the Stormont brake and see it in action. I very much hope that we will see it in action in the future to demonstrate its worth in this space.