Contributions
345 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDevolved GovernmentI welcome the Minister to his new role. We are concerned about his politics, but the SDLP will work constructively with anybody to get solutions. He will be aware of the absence…07 Sept 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillI desperately hope with every fibre of my being that the position the right hon. Gentleman sets out in his final words is the one we reach at the end of this process. The people…20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillWe hear a lot about the egregious use of powers and regulations being imposed, but we hear very little about what specific powers people do not want to have. I think they are…20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillAnd there is not cross-community consensus!20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillWill the Minister please clarify? I am struggling to understand. He repeatedly refers to the need for cross-community consent. Does he understand and has he noted the letter from…20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillCan the right hon. Gentleman explain why, in the case of all the Bills that preceded Britain’s exit from the European Union, he repeatedly voted against all the SDLP’s amendments…20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillI genuinely share the right hon. Lady’s concern that all the elected Unionist Members oppose the protocol. It is not a desirable situation, which is why I poured six years of my…20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillThis afternoon’s amendments focus on the disapplication of the protocol and the extravagant powers that the Government hope to grant themselves. Our amendments, consistent with…20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillI am glad the hon. Member brought up that point, because I am sure that all the Members in the Chamber have read the Good Friday agreement and will know that in the original 1998…20 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillThis is the problem we had in the stop-start 25 years of devolution: an obsession with and an addiction to veto by the DUP, and others. Some of these points would have more…20 Jul 2022HANSARDEngagementsQ9. This Prime Minister has been the very embodiment of the excess and the vice that the ministerial code was designed to protect against, and once trust is broken it is very hard…20 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillDoes the Minister agree that the North-South Ministerial Council and other architecture of the Good Friday agreement provide solutions to addressing some of the issues around…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillWe have been spun the narrative that this is about the consent and the engagement of Northern Ireland. Although, of course, businesses are up for ways to ease the frictions…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillWill the Minister give way?19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillI think Members across the Chamber would concur, and Hansard will certainly show, that I and others are acutely aware of the discombobulating and disturbing impact on many of a…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillDoes the right hon. Member acknowledge that it feels duplicitous to many people for him and his colleagues to say repeatedly that the protocol requires cross-community consent but…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillThe SDLP is acutely aware of the sensitivity of people’s identity, but does the right hon. Member agree that having customs checks “doesn’t mean that you change the constitutional…19 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Protocol BillDoes the Member acknowledge that the North South Ministerial Council, when it is not being held to ransom, is already a consensus-based forum, and that our amendment speaks to…19 Jul 2022HANSARDNorthern Ireland Protocol BillI rise to speak to the amendments tabled in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Foyle (Colum Eastwood), in which we hope to address some of the issues around…13 Jul 2022HANSARD Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) BillIt is fair to say that, over the past couple of years, there have been a lot of new converts to the Good Friday agreement. Will the hon. Member concede that although the issue of…29 Jun 2022