...Parliament notes that, every day, public services continue to face the aftermath of the biggest shock faced since the establishment of the NHS – dealing with the combined impact of a pandemic, Brexit, which Scotland overwhelmingly rejected, and a cost of living crisis, amplified by catastrophic UK Government mismanagement; recognises that, in the face of over a decade of UK Government...
Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle: ...said that foreign nations might be or are confused about UK foreign policy because of the actions that local councils or nations in these islands choose to take. That reminds me of the heat of the Brexit debate, when some politicians, particularly on the pro-Brexit side, seemed to think that other nations’ diplomats and leaders did not read Twitter or view television. They made...
Matthew O'Toole: ...who have inflicted hardship, particularly on the most vulnerable, over the last decade and a half and then compounded their austerity obsession with the most preposterous economic folly of Brexit, the biggest act of economic self-harm that any modern nation has inflicted on itself — have placed us in an unenviable position. Therefore, we support the Executive parties when they say that...
Neale Hanvey: ...can leverage those types of concessions when they grant licences. The UK Government can therefore make no serious argument that they cannot do that. One of the refrains we heard during the Brexit debate was about the reclaiming of national sovereignty. It was one of the reasons for Brexit. One of the most limiting factors for job creation in renewables was that contracts for difference and...
Mark Drakeford: ...certainly not ignored the voice of farmers. We have had a seven-year conversation. I am very grateful—I said in an earlier answer, I am very grateful—to the 12,000 responses that we had to the 'Brexit and our land' consultation as far back as 2018. I'm grateful to have over 3,000 responses to the 2019 'Sustainable Farming and our Land' consultation, to the 2,000 people who participated...
Sinéad McLaughlin: .... In the meantime, we need to follow what works, and that includes restoring the cross-border healthcare directive. We are one island, and we all know that health problems do not stop at borders. Brexit was a serious blow to our health service, not only because it removed the cross-border healthcare directive but because, under freedom of movement, we had the ultimate cross-border...
Neil Gray: The twin challenge of a United Kingdom Government cut to our capital grant over the next five years and unprecedented levels of inflation caused by Brexit, Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and the handling of the UK economy has impacted on our ability to fund capital projects. The 10 per cent real-terms cut to our capital budget is the equivalent to a reduction of around £540 million a...
Collette Stevenson: ...and, when needed, targeted social security support, and we could ensure that everyone could have a dignified quality of life. The most important thing for Scotland, though, is to escape broken Brexit Britain. We need independence to reset the social security system and to build a country with the powers and economy to tackle inequality and eradicate poverty. What is the alternative? Let us...
Angus MacNeil: ...getting roughly £3.5 million a year, and under the levelling-up money—when it comes—it will be £2.25 million a year, so it is actually levelling down in comparison with what happened before Brexit.
Matthew O'Toole: ...He mentioned that being part of the UK is financially beneficial. Does he agree with the UK's official budget, fiscal and economic forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility, which says that Brexit has basically reduced the UK's trading capacity and, therefore, its economy and GDP by about 4% in the long run, which obviously means much less tax revenue, which means much less money to...
Stewart Hosie: ...growth is not forecast to exceed 2% in any year in the forecast period. How modest the Minister’s ambitions are. National debt is still approaching 100% of GDP—£3 trillion. The consequences of Brexit are suppressing growth, and that poses a challenge to the UK Government’s fiscal targets. Although it is welcome that inflation has fallen, prices remain high. Prices are not falling;...
Daniel McCrossan: ...that the agri-food sector in the North is an important part of the all-island industry, that cross-border trade and supply chains benefit the economy across the island of Ireland and that, despite Brexit and the efforts of some of his Executive colleagues, the future sustainable economic growth of the sector relies on taking advantage of and building on those all-island links?
Conor Murphy: I would say, in the first instance, that I believe that Brexit was a bad idea, even for those of you who supported it, and that any alteration to the trading arrangements between Britain and Europe was going to have an impact. The outcome is that we are not where we were, and we have been trying ever since to make the best of a bad idea by trying to improve those relationships. I see the...
Gareth Davies: ...draught products to recognise the value of our great British pubs. This means that every pint, in every pub across the UK pays less duty than their supermarket equivalent - this is the Government's Brexit Pubs Guarantee. In addition, at Autumn Statement 2023, the government announced it will extend the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief scheme at 75 per cent, up to a cash cap of...
Baroness Hayman of Ullock: My Lords, April’s post-Brexit import controls come after numerous delays and redesigns, and against a backdrop of a shortage of vets to check consignments and hauliers to move them. The port of Dover is concerned that the decision to have physical checks so far from its border will enable illicit activity between the two sites. Domestic producers are worried that, as they face higher input...
Baroness Suttie: ...I would like to recall, as other noble Lords have done, that we are facing all these highly complex issues, and the equally complex set of proposals and solutions in front of us, because of Brexit. I felt that the noble Lords, Lord Bew and Lord Hain, made that case extremely powerfully in tonight’s debate. A colleague was reminding me just the other day of the excellent report on Brexit...
Baroness Vere of Norbiton: ...for those businesses trading with the EU - granting Northern Ireland businesses the ability to benefit from new UK changes and ensuring that Northern Ireland households can benefit from the UK’s Brexit freedoms. The freedoms secured under the Windsor Framework have already delivered benefits for NI people and businesses, including: the application of zero rates on the installation of...
Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that businesses have faced increasing difficulties and costs trading with the EU since Brexit, what steps they are taking to (1) identify areas of improvement, and (2) provide support.
Lord Berkeley of Knighton: ...for musicians and singers are now compounded by the fact that foreign opera houses and festivals are beginning to boycott British artists. Has the Treasury made any assessment of how these post-Brexit arrangements are affecting the economy, and if not, please can it do so?
Jim Allister: ...Committee, it was made sure that there was no representative from this corner until that carve-up had been completed. The result, of course, in my case, is that I have been denied a place on the EU/Brexit Committee because deep-dive scrutiny is not what is required. It is the form rather than the substance of scrutiny that the protocol-implementing parties in the House wish to see. On that...