My Lords, over a number of months we have listened to many speeches in this House on the Irish border. While I listened to them I wondered whether the speakers were serious about trying to resolve the issue or whether it was another way of stopping Brexit. I listened to the noble Lord, Lord Patten, opening the debate, and heard some laughter around the Chamber. I can assure noble Lords in this House that this is no laughing matter. The question of how the Irish border issue might be resolved is a serious one. If your Lordships listen to the Peers from Northern Ireland, there is almost unity of purpose today. We are on the ground in Northern Ireland and we know what people are thinking on this issue.
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You have Mr Barnier from the European Union and you have the Irish Government, and there are other people tucked in there. Their language and their body language is not helping the situation. I would go further and say that, the longer the debate goes on around Brexit and how the Irish border issue might be resolved, it is further dividing both communities in Northern Ireland. Unionists are now taking one side of the argument and nationalists are taking the other. That is sad. Negotiators in Europe need to realise that they must take a balanced approach to how they deal with Northern Ireland, and especially to how they deal with both communities. They should be batting for both communities, but, at the moment, it is seen from a unionist point of view that the negotiators in Brussels, and especially the Irish Government, are on one side of the fence. We will see over the next number of months whether that changes.
The whole issue of the border could be resolved if Mr Barnier and the European officials were listening. Unfortunately, they are not, and they are not prepared to look at other solutions for the border, which is sad. The approach of European Union negotiators appears to be, “Take it or leave it, but this is the way it has to be”. We all know that we will have to try to reach a compromise to resolve this. The blockage at the moment seems to be from Brussels, and especially from the Irish Government.
The other issue is clearly that none of us, after we leave Europe, wants infrastructure on the border. I could not be any clearer on that. We do not want infrastructure on the border; we want the free movement of traffic and people across the border, with maximum access for goods and services.
The noble Lord, Lord Trimble, mentioned the backstop position to avoid a hard border, keeping Northern Ireland within the customs union after we leave the European Union. That is something we will not accept in Northern Ireland. Anything that treats Northern Ireland differently from the rest of this United Kingdom, we cannot accept. That message has gone very clearly to the Prime Minister.
There is another issue, and I will be very quick because I know that other Members want to speak on this subject. Some of the speeches seem to be saying that, if we do not do what Brussels and the Irish Government want us to, there is a threat to the peace process. That is very much like blackmail—that is how it sounds. If you live in Northern Ireland, you know the reality. Maybe some Peers need to come and live in Northern Ireland to learn what we are hearing on the ground. These threats, and the threats coming from Brussels and from the Irish Government, are wrong. They need to go away and work with us to look for and find a solution to our problems.
I listened to the noble Lord, Lord Bew, who rightly said that we have a different Government in the south and they are not listening. The British Prime Minister said that the best way to resolve the border issue is to have a meeting of the Republic of Ireland Government, the British Government and Europe—to sit down and resolve the problem. The Republic’s Government refused that meeting on two occasions. You can see exactly what the Irish Government’s agenda is.
When the House looks at this amendment, they should think on it very carefully. This is not the time to divide the House on an issue that is causing huge difficulties for the people of Northern Ireland as a whole. I say that very respectfully. As somebody who held the position of Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly for some years, I know the politics in Northern Ireland and I know the issues, some of which can be very difficult. I also believe that if the Assembly were up and running, some of these issues would be easier to resolve and easier for this Government as well because there would be input from an elected Northern Ireland Assembly. I say to this House very clearly that rejecting this amendment is the best way forward. Let us all work together to find a solution to the problems of Northern Ireland and to the border.