Member

It is important to scrutinise these matters in detail. Some noble Lords have raised the issue of: “We’ve had these debates before; we have looked at these—what have they achieved?” Well, on that basis, noble Lords from the Opposition, other parties and no party would not bring forward anything in this House. The job of this House is to give scrutiny to the detail of things that really matter to people in Northern Ireland, because they are not scrutinised anywhere else. It is not being done in the Northern Ireland Assembly, or in the House of Commons, because the committee that dealt with European legislation has been done away with. It is important that we scrutinise in detail laws which impose on Northern Ireland foreign jurisdiction—and especially when they impose foreign jurisdiction. These are not Government proposals; they are proposals being brought forward at the behest of the European Union in 2024, post Brexit. These are important constitutional, democratic and economic issues. Therefore, on the basis of the importance of these matters to Northern Ireland, I would like to seek the opinion of the House on this SI.