Contributions
485 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: EU ProposalsMy Lords, we are obviously engaged in a very intensive dialogue on this question, both at my level and among teams and beyond that. As I said, obviously we talk to senior…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: EU ProposalsMy Lords, as a Government we obviously have our own dialogue with the US Government that does not depend on messages in the New York Times . I refer back to the statement made by…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: EU ProposalsMy Lords, obviously the protocol is part of the withdrawal agreement but that does not prevent its being reopened and renegotiated separately. The same is true of any treaty; it…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, as noble Lords would expect, the Government continue to observe very closely the situation as regards trade on the island of Ireland and more broadly, for example, trade…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, I did indeed say that, because it is my job to get the best outcome for this country in the negotiations that I am charged with conducting. That is what we did over the…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, I very much agree with the thrust of the question asked by my noble friend. We made very clear in the Command Paper that we published in July that the European Court of…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeSo, my Lords, I reject the implication of the question that there is any contradiction between a so-called hard Brexit, which is the only real Brexit and the only form of Brexit…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, I am proud of securing a deal that delivered democracy and took this country out of the European Union in 2019, which the people of this country voted for. On trade, the…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, I think the question is based on a slight misconception that the legal text that we sent in represents some new stage or evolution in our position. It does not. It…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, my noble friend identifies an important point, which is that trade in both goods and services is subject to a lot of noise at the moment—the ongoing Covid pandemic, the…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, the difficulty we have with the protocol is not so much the sovereignty issue, because the territorial integrity of the UK and the integrity of the internal market of…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: Impact on TradeMy Lords, I very much wished to go to that reception. Unfortunately, as colleagues know, I was not well on Tuesday and could not attend, but my office was there and represented…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: EU ProposalsMy Lords, I am in regular contact with Vice-President Šefčovič about the full range of issues relating to the UK-EU relationship. Most recently, I met him in Brussels on 15…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: EU ProposalsMy Lords, opinions differ on the innumerable benefits of the protocol, as the noble Baroness puts it. I certainly hear concern from business about the imposition of EU law without…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: EU ProposalsMy Lords, my team has been in discussion with the EU on this subject all week. We are seeking to understand the detail that underlies some of the headline claims that the EU has…21 Oct 2021HANSARDProtocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland: EU ProposalsMy Lords, the protocol has always been a somewhat separable bit of the withdrawal agreement, in the sense that it was renegotiated after the first version of the withdrawal…21 Oct 2021HANSARDNorthern Ireland ProtocolMy Lords, my noble friend is absolutely correct that 200 firms have ceased trading with Northern Ireland this year, including some quite significant ones. The existence of this…13 Oct 2021HANSARDNorthern Ireland ProtocolMy Lords, my noble friend makes an extremely good, apposite point. I am sure he has read my speech made in Lisbon yesterday because I put great emphasis on the need to resolve the…13 Oct 2021HANSARDNorthern Ireland ProtocolMy Lords, we wait to see what the EU proposes to us later this afternoon. We will look at those proposals very positively and, I hope, constructively. If there are elements in…13 Oct 2021HANSARDNorthern Ireland ProtocolI very much agree with the thrust of the noble Lord’s question. We would like to find a permanent solution to this problem, a solution that everybody can get behind in Northern…13 Oct 2021