Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they submitted any cross appeal on the finding of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal in the matter of an application by James Allister and others that the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland created an inconsistency with Article 6 of the Acts of Union.
Answered by Lord Caine - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In its judgement on appeal of this case on 8 February 2023, the Supreme Court did not make a specific determination on this point.
The Court rightly focused on the sovereignty of Parliament and affirmed, as Article Six of the Acts of Union itself recognised, ‘that it is the most fundamental rule of UK constitutional law’.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they are having with the EU regarding an SPS Veterinary Agreement following the implementation of the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
From 1 October, new arrangements under the Windsor Framework will ease the movement of food, plants, and seeds moving into Northern Ireland, protecting the availability, choice and supply of these essential goods.
For wider EU trading arrangements, the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) establishes trade based on zero tariffs and zero quotas, and the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) chapter of the TCA creates a structure that allows the UK and the EU to take informed decisions to reduce their respective SPS controls, with a commitment to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade.
We previously raised SPS equivalence with the EU in TCA negotiations, and they would not countenance it. We are open to discussions with the EU on additional steps to further reduce trade friction, but these cannot be on the basis of future alignment with EU rules. This would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws.
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Windsor Framework on Northern Ireland's place in the Union.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Windsor Framework protects and strengthens Northern Ireland’s place in our Union and this will be reinforced by the changes we are making to domestic legislation.
As well as ensuring goods available on the shelves in Great Britain are able to move freely to Northern Ireland, the agreement safeguards Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market through agreements on medicines, VAT and State aid.
The agreement ensures that Northern Ireland will benefit from the same VAT and alcohol taxes as apply in the rest of the United Kingdom.
With the agreement, we have restored sovereignty by putting the people of Northern Ireland in charge and eliminating the democratic deficit.
Northern Ireland’s businesses have access not only to the UK market, but also to the European single market and the agreement provides Northern Ireland with excellent opportunities for economic growth. In so doing it supports the prosperity of both Northern Ireland and the whole of the UK.
As Tony Blair recently noted, political stability is the best way to protect the union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and by fixing the problems with the Protocol and restoring the delicate balance inherent in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, we have provided a sound basis for Northern Ireland to move forward economically and politically as an integral and prosperous part of the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the parts of Article VI of the Acts of Union 1800 that were suspended or modified by the effect of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland will cease to be suspended or modified following the implementation of the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Through the Windsor Framework we have established a new legal framework of democratic consent and control. This ensures the smooth flow of internal UK trade; protects Northern Ireland's place in our Union; and safeguards sovereignty and addresses the democratic deficit in Northern Ireland. These changes ensure that Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom is fully respected, as expressed through the Acts of Union and the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in their modern contexts. And we will underpin this new framework through amendments to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to provide constitutional and democratic guarantees for the people of Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Lord Hay of Ballyore (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of the Court of Justice of the European Union as it relates to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland; and whether this role affects the sovereignty of the UK.
Answered by Lord Frost
Implementation of the Protocol has led to considerable disruption in the movement of goods and clear diversion of trade. Traders of all sizes have faced additional burdens, supply chains have been disrupted, and costs increased. At least 200 companies in Great Britain are no longer servicing the Northern Ireland market.
We welcome the EU’s recognition that there are serious problems with the Protocol which need to be solved. We are currently engaged in a process of technical discussions with the European Commission in order fully to understand their proposals. However, it’s clear there is still a substantial gap between our two positions.
Governance is critical to ensuring that we have a balanced settlement that is durable in the long term. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) sits at the apex of a system in which EU laws are imposed on NI without consent. Addressing these problems is essential in order to ensure that any agreement can be supported by all communities in Northern Ireland.
We would prefer to settle these issues consensually and reach a positive outcome through negotiations. However, we have been clear that if an agreement cannot be reached Article 16 is a legitimate safeguard provision, the conditions for the use of which have been met.
Asked by: Lord Browne of Belmont (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland on UK sovereignty.
Answered by Lord Frost
The Government’s position on this matter is set out in Command Paper (CP 502), published on 21 July.
Article 1 of the Northern Ireland Protocol states that “This Protocol respects the essential State functions and territorial integrity of the United Kingdom.” Nonetheless, the Government is clear that the current governance arrangements under the Protocol must evolve to reflect the reality that the Protocol is an agreement between two sovereign and autonomous entities, not a relationship of subordination where one party’s rules have to be applied mechanically by the other. That is why the UK's Command Paper sets out the Government's intention to remove the remaining role of the EU institutions and of the CJEU in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential impact of a veterinary agreement between the UK and the EU on frictionless trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
The United Kingdom proposed in the TCA negotiations last year that there could be an equivalence arrangement between the UK and the EU. Unfortunately, the EU was not open to such a suggestion. We continue to be open to such an equivalence arrangement, if the EU is interested in it. However, this cannot be on the basis of any dynamic alignment with EU rules, as this would compromise UK sovereignty over our own laws and impact our ability to strike trade deals or agree trade facilitations with non-EU countries.
Asked by: Lord Lexden (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland on the sovereignty of the UK.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 was approved by Parliament on 23 January 2020. It implemented the agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union. It sets out the arrangements for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU including the Northern Ireland Protocol. As the Protocol itself makes clear, the UK as a whole, including Northern Ireland, has left the EU customs territory. The future of the Protocol is in the hands of the people of Northern Ireland, with Northern Ireland’s elected institutions to determine whether to extend or end its alignment provisions four years after the end of the transition period.
Asked by: Lord Empey (Ulster Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow the EU to open an office in Northern Ireland; and what kind of presence in Northern Ireland the EU has requested.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
As is detailed in the Command Paper published on Gov.uk on 10 October, the arrangements we have reached in principle with the European Commission, are clear that there will be no EU Belfast embassy or mission. Instead, the arrangements we have agreed will enable the EU to exercise their rights under Article 12, including with appropriate access to the information needed to do so, while fully respecting the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Viscount Waverley (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 8 September that provisions of the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill do "break international law in a very specific and limited way” (HC Deb, col 509), whether that statement reflects their position; and if so, what assessment they have made of the impact of such an approach on international relations.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The government’s legal position on the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill and Northern Ireland Protocol was set out in a statement published on 10 September, and remains unchanged. That statement makes clear that clauses 42 and 43 of the Bill may be exercised in a way which is incompatible with the provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement, and that the ‘notwithstanding provision’ in clause 45 partially disapplies Article 4 of the Withdrawal Agreement, regardless of whether any regulations made under clause 42 or 43 of the Bill are in fact compatible with the Withdrawal Agreement. The statement of 10 September also makes clear that it is an established principle of international law that a State is obliged to discharge its treaty obligations in good faith, and that this is, and will remain, the key principle in informing the UK’s approach to international relations. However, in the difficult and highly exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves it is important to remember the fundamental principle of Parliamentary sovereignty.