Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what parliamentary procedure will apply to the forthcoming statutory regulations relating to unrestricted access for businesses from Northern Ireland exporting goods to elsewhere in the UK.

The power in Section 8C of the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 also provides for regulations to be made to facilitate the access to the market within Great Britain of qualifying Northern Ireland goods.

Overall this regulation making power is restricted in its scope insofar as it can only be used to implement the Protocol and, where appropriate, to implement the Government’s policy on unfettered access.

Any use of the power which seeks to amend primary legislation, including the devolution statutes, or retained direct principal EU legislation would be subject to the affirmative procedure to provide appropriate scrutiny of the proposed legislation. In addition, where any regulations made under this power seek to, for example, establish a public authority or create or widen the scope of a relevant criminal offence, creates or amends a power to legislate or, as has been asked, facilitates the access to the market within GB of NI qualifying goods, they would also be subject to the affirmative procedure.

Any other regulations under this power will be subject to the negative procedure.