Michael Ellis: I do not accept that characterisation. This is very important to the whole community in Northern Ireland and it is very important that we have cross-community consensus in the working of these operations. I do not accept the premise of the hon. Gentleman’s point.
Michael Ellis: The right hon. Gentleman is certainly right about the dual regulatory regime, as the Committee discussed at some length yesterday; I agree with his contention.
Michael Ellis: As I outlined in my answer of 18 October 2021 to PQ 54006, Chequers is not a government building; it is run and managed by an independent trust. Official hospitality provided by the government (e.g. hosting the visit of a representative of a foreign government) is paid for by the public purse. Personal or party political hospitality is not. This has been the case under successive...
Michael Ellis: I refer the Hon. member to the answer given to PQ 35990 on 18 July 2022.
Michael Ellis: Johnny Mercer MP was appointed as the first standalone UK Minister for Veterans' Affairs on 7 July in recognition of the seriousness with which this country takes supporting our veterans. No budget is attached to the new role, but the Office for Veterans' Affairs has a budget this financial year of £10.3m. Severance payments for Ministers are a statutory entitlement under section 4 of the...
Michael Ellis: Johnny Mercer MP was appointed as the first standalone UK Minister for Veterans' Affairs on 7 July in recognition of the seriousness with which this country takes supporting our veterans. No budget is attached to the new role, but the Office for Veterans' Affairs has a budget this financial year of £10.3m. Severance payments for Ministers are a statutory entitlement under section 4 of the...
Michael Ellis: I am grateful to all the participants in this important debate. Very briefly, I would like to reiterate the following points. No business, including in the dairy sector—I recently visited Lakeland Dairies in Belfast—will be worse off as a result of UK action. The Bill will force no change on any sector, but it will allow Ministers to respond to specific asks from each sector, if...
Michael Ellis: The right hon. Gentleman makes a powerful point, and it is one with which I tend to agree. The full details of the new regime will be set out in and alongside regulations made under the Bill, and that includes economic impacts where appropriate. The regulations will be the product of engagement with business. We are going to talk to people to ensure that the detail of the new regime is as...
Michael Ellis: I do not accept the characterisation of the hon. Lady’s point. The aspects of new clauses 14 and 15 obliging the Government to lay reports before Parliament are also unnecessary. The Government have already committed to—and do—lay written ministerial statements in Parliament before and after each meeting of the Joint Committee. We also provide explanatory memorandums on matters to be...
Michael Ellis: My right hon. Friend makes a powerful and valid point. The Bill will ameliorate a plethora of problems that have been caused by the protocol. As my right hon. Friend knows, by providing an alternative UK rules route to market in Northern Ireland, clause 7 protects the integrity of the UK’s internal market. Clause 8 ensures that the protocol no longer prevents a dual regime such as that...
Michael Ellis: The first thing to state clearly is that no business will be forced to do anything. They will not be obliged to choose one over the other. It will be up to businesses to do that. One power we will give to Ministers in due course, when the Bill has passed, is to make regulations that will fit in most neatly with businesses’ wishes and desires.
Michael Ellis: If I may, I will make a little more progress. Clause 9 provides a Minister with the powers to make provisions through secondary legislation to ensure the effective working of the dual regulatory routes in Northern Ireland. I will move on to clause 10, conscious as I am of the Second Deputy Chairman’s admonition about speed. The clause defines the types of regulatory activity covered by the...
Michael Ellis: The hon. Gentleman makes a powerful and succinct point. Clause 11 gives Ministers appropriate powers to ensure that the regulatory regime in Northern Ireland operates for goods in any given sector, ranging from ball bearings and ice cream to lamp posts, gas cookers and children’s toys—myriad different items, but also intermediate goods such as chemicals. All are regulated in different...
Michael Ellis: I will give way, but I am just about to come on to the amendments, so the right hon. Gentleman may wish to wait.
Michael Ellis: No. Businesses will not be obliged to follow any particular route. They will not be forced to follow either UK or EU regulations. It is a choice, and I should be able to expand on that later. Amendments 44 and 45 are in the name of the hon. Member for North Down (Stephen Farry). As I have said before, the Government are engaging broadly on the issues created by the protocol with stakeholder...
Michael Ellis: May I put it this way? The Sewel convention applies to this Bill, as it does to all Bills of the UK Parliament which intersect with devolved competence. I respectfully point out that the Northern Ireland Assembly is not sitting at the moment. It is exactly because of the breakdown of the institutions in Northern Ireland that we are where we are right now and this Bill is actually needed. We...
Michael Ellis: Forgive me, but I must make some progress. I am sure that there will be another opportunity to intervene. Let me turn to amendment 36, in the name of the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy). I addressed this point previously, so I shall be brief. It would potentially circumscribe the ability to design dual regulatory routes under clause 9 to preserve the unity of the UK’s internal...
Michael Ellis: I begin by thanking hon. Members for their participation in the debate so far. I remind them that, while the Northern Ireland protocol was agreed with the best of intentions, it is causing real problems for people and businesses in Northern Ireland, and this legislation will fix the practical problems that the protocol has created. On the clauses under scrutiny today, clause 7 makes it clear...
Michael Ellis: I thank the right hon. Lady for her question. I note that she does not appear to be seeking the full debate that I recently wrote to her in support of, and I would commend my recent letter to her, wherein I suggested that perhaps a full debate would be in order when the House resumes, if the Leader of the House will agree. I frequently pay tribute to her, as she knows, for her long-standing...
Michael Ellis: Yes, Mr Speaker, just two paragraphs left. I apologise if I have run over. I was saying that my colleagues and I are keenly aware of this reality. After all, it was this Conservative Government under my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead that launched the inquiry in the first place and it was this Government under the current Prime Minister that commissioned the compensation...