Amendment to the Amendment to the Motion

Part of Northern Ireland Protocol Bill - Committee (1st Day) – in the House of Lords at 4:30 pm on 25 October 2022.

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Photo of Lord Kerr of Kinlochard Lord Kerr of Kinlochard Crossbench 4:30, 25 October 2022

My Lords, I too will be brief. I have heard nothing in the preceding speeches with which I disagree, but I have one point that I would like to add.

I agree with the amendment put down by the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman, and with the amendment suggested by the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann. However, even in the unlikely event that the Government were to provide all six dossiers that have been requested, and in the even more unlikely event that these proved reassuring, I would still want to vote against this Bill. It is a matter of principle and honour.

You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and this is a pig of a Bill. The powers it confers on government using these powers is simply not compatible with how this country views its commitments. We do not tear up treaties. That is the point of principle; that is the matter of honour. A deal is a deal is a deal: pacta sunt servanda. The noble and learned Lord the Advocate-General told us at Second Reading, in a rather labyrinthine reply:

“The assertion that the Government’s position breaches international law is too bald and lacking in nuance.”

When questioned by the noble Lord, Lord Howard, he said that

“it would be wrong … to engage in a deeper debate.”—[Official Report, 11/10/22; cols. 765-66.]

He did not say why it would be wrong or when the moment would be, but I imagine he was waiting for the Constitution Committee’s report. Now that we have it, we see that the Constitution Committee is clear that even enacting this Bill would

“clearly breach the UK’s international obligations”.

There is not a lot of nuance there.

I am no lawyer and I do not want to get into enactment, but as a practitioner I can say that what seems plain as a pikestaff to a non-lawyer like me is that to exercise the powers the Bill confers would drive a coach and horses through a treaty—and that is not what we do. It would not just be self-defeating; it would be dishonourable. We, Parliament, must not empower our Government to act dishonourably, to condone, to purport or to legitimise. That would itself be dishonourable, so I do not see how this Bill can go through. It is a stain on my old department.

However, it dates back to the last Prime Minister but one, and today, as the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, said, we have a new Prime Minister and a new Administration, a chance to turn over a new leaf, to bring back honour, to make our word again our bond and to negotiate in good faith with the EU on the practical implementation of our mutual obligations under the protocol. I am sure that Mr Sunak is an honourable man—it would be tactless to say, “like Brutus”. I hope he will now choose not to pursue this Bill. It would be the right thing to do, and it would also be the sensible thing to do, because negotiations cannot succeed while this blunderbuss is on the table and because I believe that this House will, if it has to, vote the Bill down.