Lord Weir of Ballyholme (DUP)

My Lords, it is an honour and a privilege to follow the noble Lord in what may be his valedictory speech. It is perhaps a little disappointing that it was on this SI, which seems to have been based on false premises. A range of factors that were not available in the other place were introduced only at a late stage. Also, it has been sold on the grounds of the consent of the devolved institutions. Where consent is obtained through duress and blackmail, as we have heard detailed today, how genuine is it? It is clear that this SI will be deeply detrimental to the ferry companies. Even at this late stage, they have not been given all the technical information that they need to implement it in full. They have been given a six-month window to introduce and implement it, when even the EU gave a three-year period for introduction and implementation for a similar scheme. The SI is deeply disproportionate. Domestic ferries account for around 1% of the UK’s carbon footprint and, as outlined by the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, and others, we are not even in a position to take action immediately to counteract that 1%. But this clearly goes beyond the implications for ferry companies. There are implications for passengers, haulage companies and companies in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Wight—and companies in Great Britain looking to send their goods there—because, inevitably, the only way this can be dealt with is to pass those costs on to the consumer and the companies concerned. As the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, highlighted, Northern Ireland relies on 90% of its goods coming in and out by ferry. That is not simply a convenient choice; it is a necessity. Let me give an example from my own life—I think the term in vogue today is “lived experience”. In the last two years, I have on two occasions had to get my electric wheelchair sent back to the manufacturer for adjustments. It happened once in London and once in Belfast. In London, I could get the wheelchair to the manufacturer in Birmingham; I could have arranged for it to be picked up or got a car to take it there. As it happens, I brought it there by train. In Northern Ireland, there was no such alternative. The only opportunity that I had was to ship it by freight to Birmingham. I suppose that I could have tried driving it there, but I would have got a little wet in the meantime. The reality is that that is the level of dependence we have. This could not come at a worse time. Because of the conflict in the Middle East, we are faced with rising fuel and transport costs and a clear knock-on effect on the cost of living, with inflation set to increase. To be fair to the Government, they will say that those are all factors outside their control. But this measure is a self-inflicted wound on top of all those factors, which will impact different parts of this United Kingdom disproportionately. We are sometimes, somewhat erroneously, referred to as an island nation. That is not accurate. We are a nation of islands. There is rightly an exemption of 100% for the Scottish islands, but to have only a 50% exemption for Northern Ireland and similar problems for the Isle of Wight is not treating all parts of the United Kingdom fairly. I had a number of questions, nearly all of which were covered by my noble friend Lord Dodds, but I will add one. There is widespread concern that there has not been much specific assessment of the economic impact on Northern Ireland. Will the Government give a commitment today that when they review the trading scheme in 2028 there will be a Northern Ireland-specific economic impact assessment? Many of us fear this will add to an already difficult situation for many companies and many consumers in Northern Ireland. The Government must face up to that.