Draft United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (Exclusions from Market Access Principles: Single-use Plastics) Regulations 2022

Steve Double Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2022 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Steve Double)]

It is an honour to make my first appearance in Committee as a Minister with you in the Chair, Mrs Murray. The draft instrument was laid before the House on 9 June. It makes an exclusion to the market access principles of the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 for legislation prohibiting the sale of single-use plastic straws, stemmed cotton buds, drink stirrers, plates, cutlery, chopsticks or balloon sticks, and of single-use food containers, drink containers, or cups made wholly or partly from expanded or extruded polystyrene. I will cover both the reasons for and the impact of the instrument, starting with the former.

The instrument is being brought forward following an agreement under the provisional resources and waste common framework. The exclusion is necessary because all four nations share an ambition to tackle plastic pollution. The instrument furthers that ambition while recognising the need to protect the UK internal market against unforeseen future barriers to trade. Legislation banning the sale of single-use plastic items covered by the exclusion has been or will be—or has been consulted on being—introduced in all four nations. However, there is a difference in the timing of those bans, which means that the UKIM Act has an impact on the ability to implement such legislation.

The UKIM Act contains two market access principles: mutual recognition and non-discrimination. The principle of mutual recognition means that goods that can be lawfully sold in the part of the UK in which they were produced, or into which they have been imported, may be sold in any other part of the UK without needing to comply with any relevant requirements applying to the sale in that other part of the UK. The principle of non-discrimination means that the sale of goods in one part of the UK should not be affected by directly or indirectly discriminatory relevant requirements towards goods that have a relevant connection with another part of the UK.

I will now briefly outline the impact of the statutory instrument. The exclusion from the market access principles means that those principles will not apply to legislation so far as it prohibits the sale of the single-use items that I previously listed. Taking the example of Scotland, the exclusion will mean that single-use plastic plates produced in, or imported into, other parts of the UK cannot be sold in Scotland, regardless of whether an equivalent ban is in place in the other parts of the UK.

The requirement, in section 10(7) of the UKIM Act, for the Secretary of State to

“have regard to the importance of facilitating the access to the market within Great Britain of qualifying Northern Ireland goods”

has been considered. The supply of the items covered by the exclusion is banned in Scotland, and the Welsh and UK Governments have consulted on banning the supply of those items where they are not already banned. The relevant EU directive—article 5 of the EU single-use plastics directive, under annex 2 of the Northern Ireland protocol—once implemented, will have equivalent effect to the proposed and existing legislation in Scotland, England and Wales, with the exception that the legislation in Scotland, England and Wales will not encompass items made from oxo-degradable plastic. As such, it is not thought that an additional or separate provision to maintain access to the market within Great Britain is needed for those single-use plastic items.

A full impact assessment has not been prepared for the instrument because it does not impose any new requirements. The SI will affect the application of the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 and any forthcoming regulations in England and Wales that ban the supply of items covered by the exclusion. The impact of those regulations has been considered in the case of the Scotland regulations, and will be considered in the case of forthcoming regulations in England and Wales. Ministers from the Welsh and Scottish Governments have consented to the making of the regulations.

In accordance with section 10(11) of the UKIM Act, the Secretary of State will publish a statement explaining why the regulations will be made without consent from the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland. As the SI is of a cross-cutting nature, it would normally require a referral to the Northern Ireland Executive, as per Northern Ireland’s ministerial code. That has not been possible due to the ongoing absence of a First Minister and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland, meaning that the Executive cannot meet. However, my officials have continued to engage at official level with the relevant Northern Ireland Departments in the development of the legislation, and there has been engagement with the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs and the Minister for the Economy in the devolved Administration, who have not raised any objections to the proposal.

The exclusion introduced by the SI recognises our shared ambition across the UK to tackle plastic pollution, while recognising the need to protect the UK internal market against unforeseen future barriers to trade. I believe this shows that the process of considering United Kingdom Internal Market Act exclusions in common framework areas is working as intended, and I commend the regulations to the Committee.

--- Later in debate ---

[Steve Double]

I thank the Opposition spokespeople for their contributions, and the shadow Minister in particular for her kind words. I view this position as an eight-week job interview, and perhaps I will be in post for a little longer. However, no matter how long I am in post, I can assure her that I am determined to continue the excellent work of my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Bury St Edmunds, and to achieve as much as I can.

Quite a few points have been raised, and I will try to cover them all, but if I miss any, Members should feel free to remind me. Generally, the fact that we are passing this legislation today shows that the system is working, and that the UKIM Act is there to protect, rightly, the internal market of the United Kingdom, which is vital to every nation within it and plays an integral role in their economies. It also shows that we can respond to requests, such as that from the Scottish Government, to make exemptions. That shows that the current Act works and that we can be flexible, when deemed appropriate, by passing secondary legislation like this to respond to situations on a case-by-case basis.

I assure Opposition Members that the UK Government are determined to continue to be a world leader on all matters that protect our environment and we will continue to work with the devolved Administrations, where appropriate, to achieve our shared ambitions. Where there are grounds for divergence, which in this case are primarily about matters of timing, we will work together to ensure that we can all achieve our ambitions; and where we can be flexible, we will be.

I agree with the comments about the need for a Northern Ireland Executive and I am sure the shadow Minister will be aware that we are doing all we can to secure that, as it is important that that happens.

I also agree with the comments made about children. I have taken a keen interest in plastic pollution since I was first elected and I have spent a lot of time visiting schools to talk about it. I am always inspired both by the level of understanding that there is now among school pupils and their determination. It gives me great hope for the future that they understand these issues far better than I did at their age. There is often pester-pressure by children to amend their parents’ behaviour; we all welcome that and recognise its importance.

I was asked about the candidates for the leadership of the Conservative party. The shadow Minister will understand that I cannot speak for them, but I assure her that I am pressing candidates on these issues, which I would have been doing even if I did not have my ministerial role. It is important that any future Prime Minister continues to lead a Government who are committed to addressing issues such as plastic pollution and ensure that we continue to be a world leader on that.

The shadow Minister asked about the “The Big Plastic Count Results” report. I admit that I have not yet had time to read it, but it is in my in-tray and I will make sure I get to grips with it, perhaps over the summer recess, and respond accordingly. I recognise the importance of the issues it raises and of the many different organisations that play a part in raising awareness of them.

We will, of course, consult businesses about any future changes we make on packaging and single-use plastics, to make sure that the impact is understood, and we will continue to work with businesses to bring forward measures that are workable and deliver the change we want in a way that works for them.

The shadow Minister asked when we would publish the common framework. We are aiming to publish it in due course—of course—and she also asked about the impact of the UKIM Act on environmental protection. That Act was introduced to protect livelihoods, jobs and businesses by ensuring that no new barriers to trade arose within the UK. The Act does not prevent devolved legislatures from continuing to make rules about the goods and services produced in their parts of the UK. The fact that we are making these regulations today shows our commitment to that. If devolved Governments want to diverge, then we are willing to consider that and we will take action when appropriate.

The shadow Minister asked about the single-use plastics consultation. We had around 50,000 responses and we hope to publish a response to the consultation this summer, although I make no commitment about how long summer will be this year. I believe that covers all the points that were raised.

To conclude, I trust that hon. Members understand and accept the need for this instrument. It makes an exclusion to the UKIM Act for legislation as far as it prohibits the sale of a number of single-use plastic items. The exclusion introduced by this instrument will mean that the single-use plastic items it encompasses that are produced in or imported into other parts of the UK cannot be sold in a country that has banned them, regardless of whether an equivalent ban is in place in the originating part.

Once again, I thank hon. Members for their contributions and commend the regulations to the Committee.

Question put and agreed to.