My Lords, I am grateful for the Minister’s response. I reassure him that I am not precious either about my name or my title. My former constituency was Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, and I was once introduced to the Massachusetts state assembly by the Speaker as, “Jimmy Purve from Twiddle, Ettick and Louder”. He managed to get every single word wrong, and then he kept asking, “So, where is Twiddle, Jimmy?”
I am grateful to all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate and for the Minister’s remarks on Article 2 rights. The point stressed by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission was that the rights are only ongoing rights if they can be both interpretive and dynamic. If you remove the court of justice’s ability to do that, they stop being rights. We are obliged to make sure that they are “ongoing interpretive”, but the power in the Bill puts that at risk. It would be quite straightforward to simply say that that can carry on.
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I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Hain, for outlining the second aspect regarding the electricity market in very clear detail. The point that has been
stressed is that the electricity market is of such significance that it is probably—I am happy to be corrected—an issue of consensus among the political parties in Northern Ireland that it carries on, and that it should carry on in a seamless, undisturbed manner. I do not want to fall foul of the warning from the noble Lord, Lord McCrea, that there are things I am not aware of, but that is my understanding.
For these Benches, it would be helpful if the Minister could write to the noble Lord, Lord Hain, and put the correspondence in the Library, rather than just having a dialogue, so that we are able to test it. If he does that, I would be grateful if he could outline what formal contact the Government have had with the SEM Committee, which operates the wholesale market for the regulator in Northern Ireland and the regulator in Dublin. That body is tasked with regulating that market and the Government must have consulted it; it would be an astonishing admission of failure if they have not formally consulted the regulatory body that operates this.
We know that the Europeans are concerned—this is linked to the previous group on subsidy—that if a GB-subsidised electricity company wishes to enter the wholesale market, that puts at risk the operation of that market. This is now potentially at risk because of the Government’s removal of the court’s competence in these areas. It is of the most significant importance, alongside the issue raised by the noble Earl, Lord Kinnoull, on interconnectedness—I am glad I am not the only one who reaches for page 402 when I read documents.
We have reached some very significant and important issues in the consideration of this Bill. I hear what the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said about pausing it. I do not know whether we should put this Bill into limbo or purgatory. I would rather pause it before it goes to hell than have it going to heaven. In the meantime, before it goes to either limbo or purgatory, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. However, I hope the responses from the Minister to these very important points will be substantial and thorough.