Shipment of Goods: Great Britain to Northern Ireland

4. What steps he has taken with Cabinet colleagues to provide guidance to businesses on shipping goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The Government are engaging extensively with businesses to explain what has been agreed under the framework, and we will be providing detailed guidance over the summer on how the green lane will operate.

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?

I recognise that keeping in place the 3% of EU law that is necessary to have an infrastructure-free border is an extremely difficult compromise, not only for Unionism but for Eurosceptics such as my right hon. Friend and me. We need to implement the framework that we have agreed, and of course we will keep it under constant review. I am grateful that she raises the TCA review. One great benefit of the Windsor framework that has been largely unexplored is that, now that we have a much more positive relationship with both Ireland and our European Union partners, it is possible that we could achieve great things in that TCA review. I would be very grateful for her collaboration to that end.

The oversell of the Windsor framework indicated to businesses that the green lane would operate without any restrictions whatsoever. That is untrue—they will still be required to make customs declarations. When will we have the freedom to trade within our own United Kingdom without the requirement for additional paperwork?

It is not the case that there will be customs declarations on the green channel. What will be shared is ordinary commercial data. The data required to go to Northern Ireland on the green lane will be no more than that required to ship within Great Britain—across, say, to Isle of Wight.

We come to the SNP spokesperson.

In a statement last month, the British Potato Trade Association described the Windsor framework as representing a step closer to achieving the ultimate aim of reopening seed potato trade with the European Union. What further guidance will be issued to exporters? What is being done to enable domestic Northern Irish consumers to access high-quality seed potato exports from Scotland? And what will the Secretary of State’s team be doing to try to replicate this hard-won market access in Northern Ireland right across the far more lucrative EU market?

I will be absolutely delighted if Scottish seed potatoes are sent to all of Europe. I see no practical reason why that should not happen. My right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) mentioned the TCA review. I would love to be able to deliver seed potatoes to all of Europe way before that, and I very much hope that the hon. Gentleman will support us as we seek to do so.