Baroness Ludford: ...of Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has pointed out that the human rights memorandum does not include an assessment of compliance of the Bill with Article 2 of the Windsor Framework, so my first question to the Minister is: will that memorandum be amended to include such an assessment? The Bill raises significant concerns about compliance with the Belfast/Good...
Lord True: ...on the CPTPP, a trade deal with the world’s fastest-growing region. We have signed critical minerals partnerships with Canada and Australia, and a semiconductor partnership with Japan. The Windsor Framework secures the free flow of trade within our UK internal market and, on Friday, we announced almost £18 billion of new investment into the UK from Japanese businesses. That is a huge...
Baroness Lister of Burtersett: ...on 17 May, so where is it? Relevant here too is the position of the devolved nations. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has warned that the Bill could contravene the Good Friday/Belfast agreement and Windsor Framework in a number of ways. Has the Minister read its critique, and will the Government be publishing a response to it? The Welsh Civil Society Forum points out that...
Baroness Hoey: To ask His Majesty's Government (1) what assessment they have made of the legal basis for the all UK "not for EU" labelling regime to be introduced as a result of the conclusion of the Windsor Agreement, (2) what consultations they have conducted regarding the introduction of this labelling regime, (3) what plans, if any, they have to lay a copy of the Regulations implementing this labelling...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown: ...in the sand or face reality. We have found out in recent days that burying one’s head in the sand does not do anything; therefore, you have to face reality. The Northern Ireland protocol and the Windsor Framework were forced on the Northern Ireland people without consent. We all know that the Belfast agreement was built on the very foundation of cross-community consent, but, sadly, the...
Rishi Sunak: I am making this statement to bring to the House’s attention the following Machinery of Government changes. First, responsibility for the delivery of the Windsor Framework will be transferred from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to sit alongside the existing Northern Ireland Unit in the Cabinet Office. The Foreign Secretary remains responsible for UK/EU relations and will...
Rishi Sunak: ...just about managing the risks of China. We are taking advantage of our post-Brexit freedoms with a hugely ambitious trade policy. We have concluded negotiations on the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership—a trade deal with the world’s fastest growing region. We have signed critical minerals partnerships with Canada and Australia, and a semiconductor...
Lord Caine: ...with the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, who argued for the strengthening of local government and effectively the abolition of Stormont, which would be a fundamental change to the Belfast/Good Friday agreement. That is not a position that the Government can support. We remain firmly committed to the agreement and to the institutions across all three strands that the agreement establishes. Our...
Baroness Penn: The Government’s duty-free policy remains unchanged after the agreement of the Windsor Framework. Northern Ireland enjoys frictionless trade with both the rest of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – the Government is committed to ensuring that remains the case. Enabling duty-free shopping between Ireland and Northern Ireland could lead to significant distortions of trade on the island...
Lord Bassam of Brighton: Following on from the question from my noble friend Lord Stansgate, the Government must explain exactly where they are here. We were led to believe that after the Windsor Agreement, the UK’s transition to the Horizon research programme was to be straightforward. What has made the Government go through this rethink? How much has the country lost in net worth in investment in research and...
Stella Creasy: The biggest problem with this Bill is not the haste and chaos that has come with it, the failure to be able to identify what is EU retained regulation or the fact that it risks the Windsor agreement; it is that even with the changes the Secretary of State is now proposing, the Government are giving themselves power over 4,000 areas of public policy and taking back control from MPs over what...
Lord Moylan: .... Another way in which we have abridged that international right, of course, is by entering into the refugee convention. Inevitably, these sorts of arrangements involve some sort of international agreement and so can be categorised as falling under the heading of international law. I am not a lawyer, nor making a legal point, but we must take account, as my noble friend Lord Balfe...
Stella Creasy: ...the UK and the EU agreed the protocol—if I can dare to mention that word—which talked about maintaining the necessary conditions for north-south co-operation and protected the 1998 Good Friday agreement. In doing so, Northern Ireland stayed dynamically aligned over many of these areas of legislation, and the Minister may therefore say that this is not an issue to be concerned about and...
Steven Baker: ...we are clear that those decisions will endure. Questions were asked about future strategy, but the Government are clear about our strategy for Northern Ireland: devolution, moving forward with the Windsor framework and making the most of our new, constructive relationship with the EU and Ireland to improve that framework in a collaborative way when problems arise, as they inevitably will....
Lord Caine: The constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the UK is clearly set out in the Northern Ireland Act 1998, which declares, consistent with the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, that Northern Ireland in its entirety remains part of the United Kingdom and shall not cease to be so without the consent of a majority of its people. This Government’s steadfast commitment to the Union, and...
Baroness Penn: ...with businesses regularly in respect of the arrangements for moving goods into Northern Ireland, including through regular forums, for example, the Joint Customs Consultative Committee. Since the agreement of the Windsor Framework that engagement has continued and is now intensifying, in order to provide clarity and to help businesses prepare for forthcoming changes up until the full...
Peter Kyle: We have recently been reminded of some of the lessons from the Good Friday agreement. One such is the importance of structures to delivering successful negotiations. The Windsor framework is a policy success, but it has not yet delivered political progress. From the outside, it is hard to see any formal discussions or negotiations that are under way with the Northern Irish parties or leaders....
Alex Cunningham: This Government are creating more red tape for businesses, with new labelling requirements for food products across the UK after the Windsor framework. Will the Government look again at having a veterinary agreement with the EU, which would eliminate those costs?
Theresa Villiers: The Windsor framework alleviates some significant problems, but it does not remove all frictions on trade, it does not restore Northern Ireland’s control of its own laws, and it has not restored power sharing, so when will the Government review the framework, and will that be part of the trade and co-operation agreement review taking place over the next two years?
Steven Baker: I do agree, Mr Speaker. The Windsor framework represents an extraordinary opportunity for Northern Ireland for the long term. Not only will Northern Ireland have privileged access to the EU and UK markets but it will be under UK services regulation and will have access to our free trade agreements, such as our accession to the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific...
