Contributions
5,553 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI reject the suggestion that what we are doing is not in conformity with the Good Friday agreement; indeed, it is intended to build on the Good Friday agreement. If it would help…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI thank my hon. Friend, for whom I have a high regard. I well remember our conversation a few weeks ago. He makes his point with great clarity and force. Those who oppose a…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI am not sure that referendums have a great history in our country recently of bringing people together. I appreciate the right hon. Gentleman’s experience and the sincerity with…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsIn due course, the text will of course be made available to right hon. and hon. Members, although this is a negotiation and you will appreciate, Mr Speaker, that we have to hold…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI have met many businesses in Northern Ireland who want emphatically to get a deal. That is the overwhelming view of businesses in Northern Ireland, so I hope very much that the…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsYes. Not only that, but I can confirm that there will be no checks, as it were, from NI to GB. I think that is very important for the House to understand.03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsObviously, the default position is that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and part of the UK legal order and part of the UK customs territory, and it will remain part of the…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsWell, I think in that very unlikely event, obviously the UK and the EU would revert to WTO terms, but I do not think that that is likely. I think that the UK and the EU—both…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsWe will of course publish the legislation in due course.03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI thank my hon. Friend. I talked to the Taoiseach last night and expect to be talking to him quite a lot in the days to come. I will certainly make that point to him as well. It…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsOf course. I have a high regard for the hon. Gentleman; I remember having many useful discussions with him about higher education when I did that job. I would be more than happy…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI defer to my hon. Friend for his long-standing experience in Northern Ireland, but the agreement that we have, or the deal that we are proposing, is a very good one for Northern…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsMy right hon. Friend is entirely right. He has campaigned passionately on this subject and his own voice is important in this matter. I know how influential he can be in reaching…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsMr Speaker, they are completely in line with section 10 of the withdrawal Act, and I would be happy to demonstrate that to the hon. Gentleman. On his request for a second…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsMy hon. Friend is absolutely right. The preparations that we have made for that outcome, a no-deal exit—I thank my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI can assure the right hon. Gentleman that in so far as such checks were necessary, they would be done electronically. They would be done by UK officials, and they would be…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI am grateful to my hon. Friend, and I can tell him that we are proceeding with huge collaborations across the front with our European friends, and I have no reason to believe…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI appreciate that the hon. Gentleman follows these things very closely, but, if I may say so, I do not recognise his characterisation of the response from our EU friends, even in…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsI thank my hon. Friend for everything she does to bring colleagues together on this issue. I do not know whether this is the end of the beginning or the beginning of the second…03 Oct 2019HANSARD Brexit NegotiationsYes, certainly; I have of course talked to the President of the European Parliament, in which the right hon. Lady served with such distinction. I can tell her and the House that…03 Oct 2019