Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to paragraph 10 of Annex A of the New Decade, New Approach Deal, published in January 2020, what steps they have taken to secure Northern Ireland’s place within the internal market of the UK.

The Northern Ireland Protocol makes clear that Northern Ireland remains part of the UK internal market and the Government legislated under the 2020 UK Internal Market access to provide for unfettered access to the UK internal market for Northern Ireland goods.

It is clear, however, that the Protocol is causing real problems in Northern Ireland. It is our clear preference to resolve these through talks and the Government is engaging in constructive dialogue with the EU to find solutions to these problems. If this is not possible, however, we have introduced the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill which aims to fix the practical problems created by the Protocol.