My Lords, I refer Members to my entry in the register of interests. It is a pleasure to follow the preceding noble Lords, who have made particular cases in respect of several amendments. I will address Amendment 61 in my name—to which the noble Baronesses, Lady Suttie and Lady Altmann, and the noble Lord, Lord Hain, have added their names—and Amendment 62 in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Hain, to which I and the noble Baronesses have added our names.
Before I explain the need for proper consent and scrutiny arrangements with the devolved Administrations, it is important to note that those two amendments deal specifically with Northern Ireland. Although there have been devolved settlements in the regions of the United Kingdom over the past 20 years, we in Northern Ireland have been subjected to in-and-out periods of devolution. We have sometimes had periods of direct rule, although the last time the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly were not sitting and we did not have the other infrastructure associated with the Good Friday agreement, basically Westminster made some decisions, but it was not a form of direct rule because amendments to the then Northern Ireland Executive Bill addressed those particular issues.
Because of the sensitivities of dealing with the devolved arrangements in Northern Ireland, and because of their intricate nature, it is important that the relationships that were manifest in the Good Friday agreement—relationships between unionists and nationalists in the north, between the north and south of Ireland and between Ireland and Britain—are nurtured and not set aside or fractured in any way. Yesterday, the good bishops of the Catholic Church in Ireland stressed the importance of underscoring that shared space. Their fear was that Covid, Brexit, all these trading arrangements, the Trade Bill and the Internal Market Bill could fracture those relationships in a very unnecessary way.
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Amendment 61 deals with the need for the devolved Administrations to agree to any trade deal that the Government might be contemplating or seeking to approve. This is necessary because there is a fear of a Westminster power grab from the devolved Administrations. Amendment 62 provides for a necessary level of scrutiny and consultation with the devolved Administrations. Of course, the very clear issues of the Internal Market Bill—which seems in some ways to supersede the common frameworks—intersect with all of this. The Bill causes fractures and difficulties for our intricate set of political relationships. Because of the slight level of volatility, these need to be nurtured and developed and not undermined in any particular way. There is a fear that Northern Ireland will be excluded from UK free trade agreements. It is important to minimise this risk—hence the need for agreement, consent and scrutiny by the devolved Administrations.
I understand that the Government have said that Northern Ireland will benefit from access to its new free trade agreements. On the one hand, this makes sense because Northern Ireland is in the UK customs territory. However, this is not straightforward, because the EU customs code will be applied in Northern Ireland, as will its standards for the production of food. So will the Minister specify that Northern Ireland will not be excluded from free trade agreements? Will the Government accept both these amendments to ensure that this level of consent, scrutiny and adherence, to ensure that we are included in free trade agreements, is placed in statute by the Bill? I—and the other noble Lords who have signed these amendments—believe that this is vitally important.
In conclusion, it is important that Northern Ireland does not sit outside these free trade agreements, which could undermine our very economic basis. There is also the issue of where these free trade agreements intersect with the Northern Ireland protocol. We do not want any borders in the Irish Sea and we do not want any borders on the island of Ireland that could interfere with our delicate political arrangements, our trading relationships and our very economic base, at this particular time of the pandemic.