Member

On a wider point about alignment, I will say this: there is an idea around that all our problems in Northern Ireland will be solved by just aligning the rest of the UK with EU legislation. The idea is that it will get rid of the problems in Northern Ireland, but of course it will not. It will be applied piecemeal, in some areas and not others. Since this Government came in, we have already seen them renege on a commitment to introduce UK-wide “Not for EU” labelling. That was supposed to be given as a means of ensuring that Great Britain aligned with Northern Ireland, to ensure there would be no question of companies saying “Well, we can’t afford just to do these labels for Northern Ireland alone. We’re going to make it UK-wide”. That was reneged on, so there is absolutely no confidence in Northern Ireland that there will be any kind of alignment right across the board when it comes to the best interests of GB industry and trade, and all the rest of it. It is understandable that the Government may take that view because come under considerable pressure. Some of these groups are very strong and hold an enormous amount of economic clout.