Results 141–160 of 7000 for (in the 'Commons debates' OR in the 'Westminster Hall debates' OR in the 'Lords debates' OR in the 'Northern Ireland Assembly debates') speaker:Hilary Benn

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 13 - Implementation, application, supervision and enforcement of the Protocol (20 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: The hon. Gentleman is making an interesting and important speech. In clause 20(4), the Government propose to allow cases to be referred to the European Court; they say they want the European Court to have nothing to do with any of this but are then taking a power to allow referrals. Does he, like me, think that that is because businesses in Northern Ireland that choose to operate under the...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 13 - Implementation, application, supervision and enforcement of the Protocol (20 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: Brexit undoubtably casts a heavy shadow over this debate. The point raised by the right hon. Members for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) and for Lagan Valley (Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson) on the democratic deficit is fairly made, although almost all the laws under which Northern Ireland is currently operating apply in the United Kingdom because of retained EU law. We must not get this...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 13 - Implementation, application, supervision and enforcement of the Protocol (20 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: The right hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, and I understand it entirely. I am talking about the situation as it is today. We should, therefore, be calm and reasonable in describing it. Let us not forget that Northern Ireland is in a unique and favourable position compared with my constituents, precisely because it has access to both the market of the United Kingdom and the market of the...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 7 - Regulation of goods: option to choose between dual routes (19 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way; he is being most generous. The argument has been put by the Minister and others in the Chamber that businesses in Northern Ireland would be entirely free to choose whether they use one regulatory system or the other, but according to the explanatory notes, clause 11 “allows a Minister to prescribe whether the dual regime should no longer...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 7 - Regulation of goods: option to choose between dual routes (19 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: The dual regulatory regime raises more questions than it answers. If I understand the Government’s position correctly, a firm can decide to operate under one regime or the other. Say, for the sake of argument, that UK regulation banned a particular ingredient for a food product, but it was not banned by the EU. Is it my hon. Friend’s understanding of the Government’s proposals that it...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 7 - Regulation of goods: option to choose between dual routes (19 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: It is on the point that the Minister just raised. If I heard him correctly, he just said that the Government were taking a power to prescribe which regulatory route should be chosen. Earlier, he said that it would be entirely a matter for businesses to determine which they chose. Just so the House is clear, the Minister is saying that it is a free choice unless the Government decide that it...

Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement: Scrutiny (19 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: The Government made a promise to the House that there would be a debate, and the Government have broken that promise. That sets a very bad precedent, precisely because this is the first trade deal that was not rolling over a deal we had previously. Although the Minister has rejected a debate for the scrutiny of this agreement, can he give the House a commitment today that for any subsequent...

Extreme Heat Preparedness (18 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: Last year’s advice report by the Adaptation Committee stated that “the gap between the level of risk we face and the level of adaptation underway has widened. Adaptation action has failed to keep pace with the worsening reality of climate risk.” Why has that happened? The Government have been in office for 12 years.

Protecting and Restoring Nature: COP15 and Beyond (14 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: I congratulate the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) on securing the debate and on making such a terrific speech. As she said, the forthcoming COP matters enormously for all the reasons she set out. We need targets so we can measure progress—that is the great benefit of them—and we need funding to help make that progress. We need every country that makes a commitment to...

Protecting and Restoring Nature: COP15 and Beyond (14 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: I was not aware of that—I am now—and what a great idea for countries to work together in that way. When we were taking the Bill that became the 2009 Act through Parliament, I was really quite surprised to discover how little we appeared to know about what was on the seabed surrounding these islands. Some very intrepid divers, some of whom I met, went down and took photographs. If the...

Protecting and Restoring Nature: COP15 and Beyond (14 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: Yes, I do. There was cross-party support in the House of Commons for the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and the creation of marine conservation zones. We basically have a planning framework; we have had one on land for a long time, but we did not have one for the sea at all. We are now confronted with a choice about what we permit. The ability to understand the consequences of what is...

Protecting and Restoring Nature: COP15 and Beyond (14 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: Ah! The right hon. Gentleman has returned.

Protecting and Restoring Nature: COP15 and Beyond (14 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: I agree completely. There are one or two insects in the north of Scotland—midges in particular—that can cause a certain amount of distress, but just think of the glory of the Scottish countryside and the mountains. Who does not feel a sense of awe and wonder as they contemplate the astonishing biodiversity and landscape that our small islands reveal unto us?

Protecting and Restoring Nature: COP15 and Beyond (14 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: I agree completely. There should be no limit to the number of trees that we can plant. We can each play our part if we have the opportunity. As MPs, because of the nature of our job, we probably get invited to plant the odd tree in our constituencies. The point that the right hon. Member for Islington North made about front gardens is really important. One of the things we did after the...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 4 - Movement of goods (including customs): excluded Protocol provision (13 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: In respect of supermarket deliveries to Northern Ireland, it is really dead simple: those supermarkets sell only in Northern Ireland, so they would, of course, be appropriate for the green lane. But given the very large number of other businesses that send goods across to Northern Ireland, how do the Government propose to identify those businesses that are sending goods that are destined for...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 4 - Movement of goods (including customs): excluded Protocol provision (13 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: I agree with the hon. Gentleman completely about the need for a veterinary agreement. Is one advantage of an EU-UK veterinary agreement that it would deal with the objections that were raised earlier by some colleagues from Northern Ireland about Northern Ireland being a rule taker for things that it had not agreed? If an agreement is for the whole UK, and Parliament agrees to it, does it not...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 1 - Overview of main provisions (13 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: We clearly have a problem, the absence of the Assembly and the Executive, and the cause is the operation of the protocol. I have said many times to European colleagues I have spoken to that the Commission needs to move in the negotiations. But one of the consequences is that we now have an absolutely terrible relationship with our biggest, nearest and most important trading partners. That is...

Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: Clause 1 - Overview of main provisions (13 Jul 2022)

Hilary Benn: The right hon. and learned Gentleman referred earlier to the three bits of the protocol that the Bill specifically prevents from being excluded—namely, rights of individuals, the common travel area and other north-south co-operation—which he described as particularly sensitive. Could he explain to the Committee why he does not regard article 18 of the Northern Ireland protocol, which...


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