Northern Ireland Protocol: Implementation

William Cash Excerpts

Tuesday 2nd February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I am always grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for his interventions, because he so often talks good sense, and I find myself uncomfortably agreeing with him—not all the time, but a lot of time. He is absolutely right: the threats that have been issued to Alliance party and other political and community leaders in Northern Ireland are totally unacceptable, and we need to stand together against that sort of behaviour. He is also right that we need to help business to use the online and digital facilities that the Trader Support Service provides, to ensure that commerce can be as trouble-free commerce as possible across the whole United Kingdom.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con) [V]]

My right hon. Friend is at last coming to the European Scrutiny Committee on 8 February. The European Commission outrageously enacted this regulation last week, which even today hypocritically asserts that it would create a hard border through article 16 and, moreover, continues even now the prohibition of the delivery of vaccines from member states to the United Kingdom. Does he accept that this demonstrates that the protocol is not fit for purpose as it stands and that this cannot be resolved without revocation of the regulation itself? Will he take this up with Mr Šefčovič in his meeting tomorrow?

[Michael Gove]

I look forward to appearing in front of my hon. Friend’s Committee next week. He is right: it is important to recognise that the regulation as laid places within the Commission’s hands the capacity to restrict exports. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister secured a commitment from the President of the Commission that there would be no interruption in vaccine supplies, but, like my hon. Friend, I deprecate the fact that this regulation was introduced in the first place.