Windsor Framework: Internal Market Guarantee

Robin Swann Excerpts

Wednesday 10th September 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jim Allister]

Of course, it was the last Government who, in their folly, brought this upon us. However, this Government, with maybe greater enthusiasm, are implementing the partitioning and dividing of the United Kingdom. The economic consequence of that is the diversion of trade; most of our raw materials come from GB, and we had a very integrated UK economy in which Northern Ireland was heavily dependent on its trade to and from GB. However, we are saying to a business supplier in GB, “If you want to send goods to Northern Ireland, or even if you want to send a parcel to Northern Ireland, you must have an export number and fill in a customs declaration, and we will carry out a percentage of checks on the goods.” That is on the supposed internal market system, never mind the red lane.

The Government are deliberately and consciously closing their eyes to this, but its natural consequence is diversion of trade, which has been self-evident in recent years. The Government do not want to observe it or take account of it, because they should be under a duty to act under article 16 of the protocol. But this is a Government that have so kowtowed to the EU that they are never going to act on the issues that they should do.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

I thank the hon. and learned Gentleman for securing this debate and for continuing to raise what is an important issue. He mentioned the manufacturers, but would he also agree about the impact on the Road Haulage Association? We have seen not only the implementation of additional bureaucracy and costs but the recent introduction of the import control system 2—ICS2—which the Government said would go live in September. They then told hauliers that it would be live in December of this year, but they actually put the system live in August without engagement or interaction with the Road Haulage Association and hauliers in Northern Ireland, increasing bureaucracy and costs.

[Jim Allister]

Yes, and when it comes to spending money on partitioning the United Kingdom, this Government have no qualms. We have seen expenditure of £190 million to build border posts. Where are there border posts other than at an international border? That is the reality of the United Kingdom today; it is partitioned by an international customs border. When someone goes from GB to Northern Ireland, they are effectively leaving one customs territory, governed by the laws of the United Kingdom, and entering a customs territory governed by the laws of the EU—laws, I say again, that we do not make and cannot change. It is such a fundamental assault on not just our constitutional position but our businesses and trade, that it is causing increasing difficulties.

Oral Answers to Questions

Robin Swann Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question. I was very pleased to get the call from the Prime Minister of Norway on Saturday night, telling us that the UK had won this contract, beating off competition from the US, France and Germany because of the quality of shipbuilding in this country. This is a £10-billion deal—15 years-worth of shipbuilding, particularly in places like the Clyde, and thousands of skilled jobs in Scotland. It shows the importance of the defence industrial strategy, and the importance of Britain being taken seriously again on the international stage. It comes on top of the record investment in defence that we have already announced earlier this year.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

I am joined today in the Gallery by the leadership of the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster, an organisation and young people who are passionate about youth work, our rural countryside and the future of farming and agriculture. Agriculture policy is devolved, but the Prime Minister’s agricultural inheritance tax is the thing that has them and young farmers across all the country despairing not just for their future, but the future of food security. When will the Prime Minister change course on the farm family inheritance tax, now that he is taking control of tax policy?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I welcome the Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster to Parliament. I take this opportunity to say to the hon. Member and to them that we have invested more than £2.7 billion in farming and nature recovery—that has been welcomed—and of course we are developing a 25-year farming road map to make the sector more profitable. Again, that has been warmly welcomed. Their future will depend on that road map, and we will work with them.

Infected Blood Inquiry: Additional Report

Robin Swann Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

As far as I can see, some of the Paymaster General’s announcements and his acceptance of some of the recommendations and sub-recommendations will cause devolved administrative bodies to have to stay open for a longer period. I believe they were initially scheduled to close on 1 February 2026, but they will now have to stay open for longer than that. I seek his reassurance that he will ensure that all the costs will be met by the Treasury and that there will be no divergence between the support given to those infected or affected anywhere across the United Kingdom, as there was previously due to the work started by the inquiry.

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly reasonable point. I spoke on Thursday to the Health Ministers of all three of the devolved Administrations, including Minister Nesbitt in the Northern Ireland Executive. The hon. Gentleman is right that the schemes for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will stay open for a further year. That has been done to make sure that we can keep up the pace of payments at IBCA, but I give him the reassurance, which I gave to the Health Ministers, that that will be funded by the UK Government. We are not asking the devolved Administrations to bear the cost of that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Robin Swann Excerpts

Thursday 10th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, which is why I have engaged throughout. The domestic advisory group under the previous trade and co-operation agreement contains a range of stake- holders, and I regularly speak to them, but I go beyond that in my work with stakeholders. He is right that it is hugely important that their voice is heard in the process of agreeing the legal text on the SPS agreement.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

While we await the detail of the SPS deal, Northern Ireland is still seeing new and additional bureaucracy to implement the Windsor framework. Does the Minister agree that it would make more sense to extend the grace periods and put a freeze on that bureaucracy rather than introduce more, as indicated in the report by the Federation of Small Businesses in Northern Ireland?

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

On our ability to negotiate generally, it is hugely important that we show good faith in implementing the agreement that the country previously agreed. However, I say to the hon. Gentleman that I always show pragmatism on implementing the Windsor framework. If we take parcels, for example, when I went to Belfast last summer I was told that there was no readiness for businesses there, but I applied for and secured a six-month delay, and then implemented that part of the agreement, so he can be assured that I take a pragmatic approach.

Government Resilience Action Plan

Robin Swann Excerpts

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

The mobile phone alert system is a significant addition to our armoury as the coverage gets better. Not everyone uses mobile phones, but a very high percentage of the population does. However, the hon. Lady is absolutely right that other media can be used, and obviously we keep these things under constant consideration.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has announced the opening of a dedicated resilience academy in North Yorkshire, which will train 4,000 private and public sector people per year. Can he give me an update on when that academy will be in place, and a surety that it will cover the entirety of the United Kingdom? He spoke earlier about the involvement of the UK Government with devolved regions, so it is critical their representatives are covered by that academy as well.

[Pat McFadden]

There has been a facility in North Yorkshire for some time, but I opened it as the UK Resilience Academy a few months ago. It is in place, and the plan is to train 4,000 people every year, including first responders and sometimes people from the private sector. I hope that that training benefits people from right across the UK.

National Security Strategy

Robin Swann Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Pat McFadden]

My hon. Friend is right. Decisions to increase defence expenditure are not just about direct spending on the armed forces, but about the supply chain, industrial capability, defence suppliers and, critically, the skills to meet our defence needs. That is why the Prime Minister has referred to a defence dividend. This is not just security policy; it is industrial and skills policy, too.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

Cyber-security is core and central to our security at home, but a significant weakness is the security of the cabling in the North Atlantic and along the west coast of Ireland. For too long, the Irish Government have freeloaded and taken for granted the United Kingdom providing defence and security. Have the Government approached the Irish Government to see whether they will pay or play their part?

[Pat McFadden]

I recently had the privilege of visiting the cyber centre at Queen’s university in Belfast, which is doing fantastic research in this area. The hon. Member is right to draw attention to the importance of subsea cables. These carry critical data between us and overseas countries every day and it is certainly part of our strategy to do everything that we can to protect our subsea cable infrastructure.

UK-EU Summit

Robin Swann Excerpts

Tuesday 20th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

This deal will make a huge difference to my hon. Friend’s constituents, and she is absolutely right to champion their interests. It will hugely help their businesses, trade and local economy.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

In an earlier answer, the Prime Minister said that he would continue with the implementation of the Windsor framework. That will see more bureaucracy and red tape introduced between Great Britain and Northern Ireland before an SPS deal can be delivered. If the Prime Minister’s partnership with the EU is so positive, does he not agree that it would be better to pause the implementation of any more bureaucracy and red tape that would add costs to Northern Ireland businesses before his deal can be achieved?

[The Prime Minister]

I do not think we should pause the implementation of deals that we have already got, but I do agree with the underlying sentiment that we should be doing everything we can through this deal and in further steps to ensure that trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the same as across the rest of the United Kingdom.

UK-EU Summit

Robin Swann Excerpts

Tuesday 13th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

Conservative Members sit there defending the status quo, but if they bothered to speak to any businesses trading internationally, they would know that the status quo is not working for Britain.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

The Minister has spoken about UK deals with India and the United States, and next Tuesday there will be a UK deal, or a reset, with the European Union. Where is Northern Ireland’s place in that? When the hon. and learned Member for North Antrim (Jim Allister) and I have asked where the benefit is for Northern Ireland from the UK-India and UK-US trade deals, we have had no answers from the Government.

[Nick Thomas-Symonds]

I have visited Belfast as a Minister more than once, and I have listened very carefully to businesses in Northern Ireland about their priorities. Northern Ireland has dual-market access, and I am absolutely supportive of Northern Ireland taking the greatest possible economic advantage of that. On the Windsor framework and the checks at the border on the Irish sea, if we are able to secure a sanitary and phytosanitary deal, that will obviously reduce the necessity for checks at that border, which I hope the hon. Gentleman would be able to support.

On safety, the trade and co-operation agreement agreed by the Conservatives left a gap in our ability to tackle crime and criminality, and stopped opportunities to work with European countries on closing the loopholes allowing illegal migration. We have to improve on that. On security, which was raised by the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar, we are responding to a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent through an ambitious UK-EU security and defence relationship. In the shadow of the 80th anniversary of VE Day, which gave us all powerful historical reminders in our constituencies up and down the country, securing our collective future is paramount.

I remind the House that NATO was the creation of that great post-war Labour Government of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevin. It has been the bedrock of our security over three quarters of a century after the treaty was signed, and that will not change. In fact, a new defence and security pact strengthens European security and strengthens NATO, and to suggest otherwise is irresponsible. The United Kingdom is rapidly increasing defence spending, and it is playing a leadership role on Ukraine. The only person who would benefit from talk of division across Europe is Vladimir Putin.

On growth, the Government’s central mission is to slash red tape at the border, making it easier for UK businesses to trade with the EU and to cut costs for businesses and consumers.

Ukraine

Robin Swann Excerpts

Monday 3rd March 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am absolutely clear that President Trump and I want to strengthen the relationship between our countries. We have spoken openly about it. We are very close on defence and security. We both know that, and we both want to strengthen that alliance. That is a good thing for both the United States and the United Kingdom.

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

I thank the Prime Minister for his leadership over the weekend. In the statement, he talks about UK jobs, UK skills and UK finance pulling together for our national interest, so may I also welcome the announcement of the £1.6 billion investment in Thales in Belfast in regards to the procurement of those 5,000 air defence missiles that will defend Ukraine, but also our democracy? While that investment in our private sector is welcome, may I just ask the Prime Minister to remember to invest also in our armed forces personnel? We require them and we will need them and want to support them as we ask them to step forward into a challenging time. While there may be those making comment around the quantity, can the Prime Minister remind others listening and watching that it is the quality of our armed forces that counts?

[The Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the quality of our armed forces, and we are all very proud of what they do in the vital defence of our country. I am pleased that we have been able to progress with the deal in Belfast so that those well-paid jobs will be there in Belfast, as well as the jobs in the supply chains that will then feed in to that contract.

Oral Answers to Questions

Robin Swann Excerpts

Wednesday 26th February 2025 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Robin Swann (South Antrim) (UUP)]

1. What steps his Department is taking with the Northern Ireland Executive to help improve public services in Northern Ireland.

[Mary Kelly Foy (City of Durham) (Lab)]

3. What recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on improving public services.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Hilary Benn)]

I regularly meet Northern Ireland Ministers to discuss the shared challenges we face in improving public services, and the Government will do everything we can to help. Last week, I met the new Finance Minister, and we both expect to be in a position soon to announce progress on funding to help with the transformation of public services.

[Robin Swann]

The Northern Ireland Executive were meant to agree their programme for Government today, but apparently the meeting was cancelled at the last minute. The Secretary of State refers to the transformation fund; £245 million was allocated to it over a year ago, but it remains unspent. The transformation board that is meant to be managing that fund is still interim. With every party in Northern Ireland clamouring for transformation, and the Secretary of State and his ministerial team calling for transformation of public services, will the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland intervene with the Executive, and tell them to get on with it?

[Hilary Benn]

I hope very much that the programme for Government will be agreed as soon as possible; it is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive, and I look forward to reading it. A number of bids were submitted for transformation funding. They have been carefully looked at by the interim board and, as I indicated a moment ago, I look forward, together with the Finance Minister, to announcing the results of that work soon.