My Lords, I hope that I will not embarrass the noble Lord, Lord Howard, by saying that I agree with virtually everything that he said.
First, however, I pay a brief tribute to May Blood, a stalwart warrior for peace who crunched fearlessly through all the political posturing, was dynamic, warm, passionate, blunt at times, and incredibly courageous on the front line of peace. I also apologise that, when the date was switched, I was unable to be present for Second Reading as I had intended. I speak in support of the amendment tabled by my noble friend Lady Chapman of Darlington, which I trust that she will re-table before Report and call a vote on if necessary.
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I also commend the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, for her amendment and pay tribute to her. She has been absolutely consistent in speaking up fearlessly and speaking the truth about the impact on Northern Ireland. I do so as a former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland who between 2005 and 2007 under Tony Blair negotiated a settlement that brought those bitter old-blood enemies Ian Paisley Sr and Martin McGuinness to share power together. This led to relatively stable self-government for 10 years before Stormont self-suspended and has been more or less so ever since.
I am desperately worried that the Government’s decisions over Northern Ireland following Brexit are reversing the progress made since the 1998 Good Friday agreement and this Bill is continuing that sad and disturbing pattern. Have all the main Northern Irish political parties and businesses been properly consulted and their views taken into account by the Government over this Bill? No. The policy is being driven by one party, and one party alone: the DUP. I do not attack it for that. It is entitled to press its view; I have many friends in the DUP and they speak up fearlessly for their cause and are entitled to do so. This is not an attack on them; it is a criticism of the Government because they are not right to give the DUP an effective veto among all the parties. Without majority support in Northern Ireland, this Bill risks being yet another thing this UK Government do to Northern Ireland, rather than with Northern Ireland.
As of June this year, 55% of Northern Irish people in an opinion poll supported the protocol as a means of managing the impact of Brexit. The same poll found that 57% of respondents did not think the UK Government would be justified in taking unilateral action on the protocol, as this Bill does. The last elections for the Northern Irish Assembly—and it looks like we will have a fresh set of elections sooner rather than later—also saw a majority of voters opt for parties which support the protocol: 53.5% of all first preference votes went to Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party, the Alliance and the Green Party.
But, of course, everybody—and this is the important point—in all those parties agrees that the protocol needs to be altered, or rather that its implementation needs to be altered, to borrow the word from the noble Lord, Lord Howard, “creatively”. I think there is
common agreement on that, and that is where the Government should be focusing. As the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, pointed out at Second Reading, the Bill
“risks alienating the majority in the Northern Ireland Assembly who want to see a negotiated settlement.”—[Official Report, 11/10/22; col. 693.]
This is the thrust of the amendment from my noble fried Lady Chapman and, indeed, the amendment to that from the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann.
Pushing ahead with the legislation could exacerbate social tensions in Northern Ireland and fuel further, damaging instability in that part of the UK. With negotiations under way with the EU and increased opportunities for a negotiated outcome, because I believe all the mood music suggests that that is the case, surely your Lordships’ House would be right to delay the passage of a Bill which breaks international law, at least before Report stage.
The UK Government have themselves said that if a negotiated solution is reached, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill will no longer be necessary, and I commend Ministers for that assurance. Given that the negotiations are under way, surely delaying the passage of the Bill while communities in Northern Ireland are properly consulted and an economic impact assessment is carried out is the most responsible course of action, rather than bulldozing ahead with the Bill.
The UK Government’s legal justification for the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill under the doctrine of necessity has been widely rejected and the view of Treasury counsel on this specific matter has not been published. The view given so far was based on counsel being asked to assume that the Bill is legal, rather than advising on whether that is indeed the case. The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is already damaging the UK’s reputation, our diplomatic relationships and our economy at a time when unity in the face of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine is required. Delaying the passage of the Bill while the UK and EU negotiate allows more time to avoid causing further damage.
Again at the risk of embarrassing him, I quote the noble Lord, Lord Howard, who pointed out at Second Reading that government Ministers have condemned President Putin for his breaches of international law. He said:
“The thing about the law, whether it is domestic or international, is that you cannot pick and choose. You cannot pray it in aid in one context and have no regard for it in another”.—[Official Report, 11/10/22; col. 697.]
That is an irrefutable argument from a noble Lord who is both a senior Conservative and a passionate Brexiteer—unlike me in either respect.
President Biden has refused to negotiate a US-UK trade deal while this protocol Bill is being pursued. Delaying its passage will enable time for the Government to consider concessions over the oppressively ubiquitous powers to Ministers that are more reflective, in my view, of an elective dictatorship than a proper parliamentary democracy.
The Bill contains 19 Henry VIII clauses, which would grant the UK Government unprecedented powers to breach international law and bypass Parliament. I mention in passing that the EU has signalled that, if this Bill is enacted, it will suspend the trade and
co-operation agreement, leading to huge uncertainty for UK and Northern Ireland businesses at a time when the financial markets have lost confidence in the UK’s economic management. Only a few days ago, a former Governor of the Bank of England, the noble Lord, Lord King of Lothbury, gave a dire forecast of our economic prospects.
Before it passes, surely your Lordships’ House is entitled to have a full economic impact assessment of the Bill, both on the UK economy, and whether it could worsen the UK’s economic outlook at the height of the cost of living crisis, and on Northern Ireland’s economy. The Government have not done that. But the most important reason to support this amendment is to give time and space for proper negotiations.
It is important to put on record that Brexit, in the form of the protocol, has created a crisis of identity for unionists and loyalists. That has to be acknowledged. Likewise, prior to the Good Friday agreement, there was a crisis of identity for nationalists and republicans. If something like the protocol had not been agreed, that crisis for nationalists and republicans would have been reignited, because the external frontier of the European Union had to be somewhere. The Government chose the Irish Sea, rather than the Irish border across the island, triggering deep resentment and insecurity among both loyalists and the majority of unionists. I quite understand that, but it need not be the case.
Is anyone seriously arguing that finding acceptable solutions to the problems triggered by the protocol is harder than finding the solutions that were found through the 1998 Good Friday agreement and the 2006 St Andrews agreement? Most thought neither of those agreements would ever happen, yet they did. This is easy compared to those two agreements, to be frank. The problem is eminently soluble by serious negotiation, give and take, and understanding of the different interests at stake. The EU should understand the interests of unionists, who feel threatened, and the British Government should understand and take into account the views of the majority of parties.
There are important issues to address. The democratic deficit, in which laws are passed in Brussels that affect Northern Ireland, can be addressed in representation through the joint committee and directly in Brussels on behalf of Northern Ireland government Ministers and the Northern Ireland Assembly. That would be easy to achieve if the UK Government were willing to propose and support it, and press the EU to grant it. I suspect it would agree to this.
If it is not elevated into some fundamentalist article of faith and dogma, a solution is possible around the European Court of Justice. The Liberal Democrat Peer, the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, has suggested a solution and many fellow Members of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland Sub-Committee, on which I sit—this House’s own committee—have heard his arguments. There are creative solutions such as that, without the ECJ being entirely removed from the situation. If it is, and this becomes an article of dogmatic faith for the Government, Northern Ireland would be ripped out of the single market and the customs union, because the ECJ polices the single market.
That is one of its functions. It is hardly ever active on it, by the way; it is a backstop. Solutions could easily be found to this.
There have been proposals from the UK Government for red and green lanes, and the EU has indicated that it can do business on that. A creative solution is possible on the medicines issue, which has proven difficult, and for phytosanitary issues. There is already a border of sorts, and has been for a very long time, for plants and livestock moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
This would not be some big dogmatic issue if creative solutions were sought and negotiations prioritised. There is a question of alignment: how do you align the fact that Northern Ireland is in the UK, the single market and the customs union? These things can be resolved if no dogmatism is applied.
I end by saying that negotiations require trust to be built and time; they require ministerial grip to find political solutions, as has been done time and again in Northern Ireland and other arenas. I have negotiated on behalf of the British Government in a number of different areas—the United Nations, the EU and Northern Ireland. We need less dogma and more flexibility. This Bill is getting in the way of that.