Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland gives legal effect to a Regulatory Border in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Article 4 of the Protocol is clear that Northern Ireland is part of the customs territory of the United Kingdom. Furthermore, Article 6 of the Protocol provides that the Protocol does not prevent the United Kingdom from ensuring unfettered market access for goods moving from Northern Ireland to other parts of the United Kingdom's internal market. The Government also provided additional protections to Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom's internal market with the Internal Market Act 2020.

Any sustainable solution must ensure that the impediments to East-West trade are removed and goods can flow freely in both direction between GB and NI.