Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act on levels of trade between Northern Ireland and the (a) rest of the UK and (b) EU.

The Government is carefully considering this Regulation and will be publishing an explanatory memorandum shortly, with detail on its potential impact on Northern Ireland.

Any applicability in Northern Ireland will of course be subject to the important democratic scrutiny mechanisms in the Windsor Framework.