My Lords, I rise to support both these amendments and to pay tribute to our colleague Baroness May Blood, who sadly passed away last week. May was a fearless campaigner in Belfast for the rights of the underdog, for integrated education—believing that children should be educated together rather than apart—and, above all, for the rights of women in work and in factories.
I support the contents of these amendments. So far, we have not received from the Government any reports or any assessment from their perspective about the report from the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. Also, we now have the report from the Constitution Committee, as was referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan.
No assessments have been carried out in respect of the economy, business and commercial developments in Northern Ireland. Only last week, as a member of your Lordships’ committee on the protocol, I returned
to Northern Ireland along with the noble Baronesses, Lady O’Loan and Lady Goudie, and our chair the noble Lord, Lord Jay. We paid a visit and took evidence—in Newry, which is along the Belfast-Dublin corridor, as well as in the Northern Ireland Assembly—from the leaders of all the political parties, and from the business, commercial and manufacturing sector. The general view of those people—apart from those in the haulage sector—was “Please remove this Bill”. This comes back to the basic point that there have to be successful negotiations, a successful negotiated outcome between the EU and the UK. That is vital. Those negotiations cannot come to a positive conclusion as long as the Bill, which is like a gun on the table, exists. I urge the Government: please remove this Bill, as it is not helpful.
Like the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, I urge the Government and the new Prime Minister to come to Northern Ireland—above all, to come with Taoiseach Micheál Martin and show the joint approach that was portrayed in the Good Friday agreement. That bipartisan approach is urgently required because, unless there are negotiations to restore the political institutions, we are in a political backwater. I urge the Government please to do that.
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I believe that resolutions have to be found by negotiation and not through unilateral actions such as this Bill. The protection of the GFA in all its parts is a real and reliable standard for us. We have only to look at the North/South Ministerial Council, that was also stood down by the DUP’s non-participation. It had certain solutions to deal with the protocol, because the solutions are of a technical nature that can be resolved through the protocol.
The people in Newry and Belfast told us they wanted a joint UK-EU negotiated solution. They want economic and political certainty. The uncertainty that currently exists does not lend itself to political progress, political development or good economic development. Many people we spoke to found benefits in the protocol in increased trade. They do not want a trade war, and they do not want any further political, economic or business difficulty. They want the new Prime Minister to act now and act jointly with the Taoiseach.
I support both amendments because they encapsulate the current issues for those of us who live in Northern Ireland, who want a successful implementation of the protocol with mitigations.