Northern Ireland

Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard Excerpts

Wednesday 27th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

My Lords, I have the full list of where we have delivered, where we are in progress and where we are tied to EU reset and business readiness; I will speak to colleagues about making that publicly available. With regard to the all-Ireland economy, the Government are committed to protecting the UK-Ireland internal market and the Windsor Framework, including all aspects of the Northern Ireland economy. Section 10(1)(b) refers to the joint report between the UK and EU negotiators of October 2017, which refers—among other things—to the all-Ireland economy. The all-Ireland economy is a fact and is greatly to the benefit of the businesses and people of Northern Ireland, as is Northern Ireland’s trade with the UK internal market.

[Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard (UUP)]

My Lords, we have had the Northern Ireland protocol and the Windsor Framework, and now we have the Safeguarding the Union document. All of those are supposed to assist with trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but we still have border checks, a border in the Irish Sea and no resolution to the veterinary medicines issue. When will the Government resolve these difficult issues for Northern Ireland?

[Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent (Lab)]

This is a priority for this Government and we will work at pace, especially on the veterinary medicines issue. We have established a working group, which continues to advise the Government and which met again earlier this month.