I will be brief, Mr Hoyle. I would like to start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for North Down (Lady Hermon) on a truly spectacular speech. I wish that her new clause was a probing amendment, because then I would be even more fulsome in welcoming it. She has done us a great service by giving us this opportunity to affirm our commitment to the Good Friday agreement, and I am pleased that the Minister made that abundantly clear. It is important that we do that regularly, because although we might think that it is self-evident, it needs to be restated time and again.
I am ever so slightly disappointed by one Member—he is not in his place, so I will not name him—who seemed to suggest that those of us who will not support the new clause, if it is pressed to a vote this evening, are in some way villainous. That is not good. That is not the right thing to be suggesting to people outside this place.
If the new clause falls this evening, that will in no way suggest that this House’s support for the Good Friday agreement is diminished. We have made it abundantly clear today that that commitment stands and is embodied in international law, and nothing we need to do with the Bill will amend or alter that in any way.
My worry with the new clause is that it is declaratory. We are lucky to have our hon. and learned Friend the Member for Torridge and West Devon (Mr Cox) here to opine on the matter and on the complexity that would be introduced into legislation, perhaps giving his colleagues a bean feast in picking apart competing bits of legislation, were we to accept the new clause.
I am put in mind of similar amendments considered in Committee on previous days. I am thinking particularly of the pressure placed on me, and I suspect on every hon. and right hon. Member, by concerned constituents urging an amendment to include sentient creatures in the Bill. It was quite difficult to face that down, because of course we all believe that animals are sentient creatures. Indeed, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 makes that clear and goes well beyond the measures currently on the European Union’s statute book. Such amendments are unnecessary because they are declaratory and virtue signalling, and I believe that new clause 70, notwithstanding the technical flaws touched on by the Minister—I suspect those flaws would be remediable—is incorrect because it is declaratory. I very much respect the hon. Member for North Down, and it is with great regret that I will not be able to support the amendment this evening.
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There has been talk of a hard border, and there is not an hon. or right hon. Member in this Committee who does not wish to see the current incredibly boring border—boring is good in this context—continue. My Select Committee, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, has visited the border area, and nothing much happens there. We want to see that continue. The good will is enormously strong, and there is a duty on this Government, on this House and, of course, on our interlocutors both in Dublin and in the European Union to ensure that it continues.
Indeed, the European Union has a duty under its own articles and treaties to ensure that happens. Both articles 8 and 21 of the Lisbon treaty require the European Union and its constituent members to work towards peace, concord and friendship between the European Union and third-party countries, which is of course where this country is heading after March 2019. That is not discretionary; the European Union is required to do so.
In underpinning the Good Friday agreement, we need to impress upon the European Union its obligations under its own treaties to ensure that the institutions that are being discussed today are enhanced and supported in every conceivable way. In the event that that level of support does not continue, we must insist on articles 8 and 21 of the Lisbon treaty.
Regulatory alignment, of course, is key to where we need to be, and it is a phase 2 piece of work. The sooner we get on to phase 2, the better. It is clear to me, a soft Brexiteer, that we need a fair level of regulatory and tariff alignment with the European Union. It is less
clear to me, and less clear as every day goes by, that we have a sufficient market outwith the European Union at the moment to stop up any potential deficit we may have from leaving the European Union. I say that—the hon. Member for North Down will understand where I am coming from—with particular reference to what is happening with Boeing, which gives me little confidence in respect of the United States. That is highly pertinent to Bombardier and what is happening in north Belfast.
I am therefore led to conclude that, although I am a Brexiteer and wish to leave the European Union, we also need to have a deep and comprehensive free trade arrangement with the European Union. It is blindingly obvious that that requires regulatory alignment of some sort, and the only point of controversy is the definition of “regulatory alignment” and what it actually means. It is clear, and probably clearer this week than ever before, that regulation, tariff and technical alignment will have to be pretty comprehensive, at least for the foreseeable future. This week’s debate has perhaps served us well in reinforcing the importance of such alignment in the minds of those of us considering these matters, particularly those of us who might be characterised as soft Brexiteers.
I now conclude, except to say once again that I regret so very much that I will not be able to support the hon. Lady’s amendment this evening.