Baroness Hoey (Non-Afl)

My Lords, these regulations were imposed without any discussion with parliamentarians in Northern Ireland, and I think this is totally unacceptable. Of course, the Government are now saying that this is better for the internal market, which is just not true, because it is based on a deceit. If imports are moving from GB to Northern Ireland, they must comply with customs paperwork. This is not a UK internal market system but a GB/EU/Northern Ireland international trade border. The Government are really misleading on this. Why can they not be honest? Why can they not say that, yes, the customs forms may be shorter, but an internal market for goods is not created by demands for shorter customs forms but by there being no requirement for such forms in the first place? The shorter forms are offered in return for businesses having to accept separate additional border frictions, including the costs of needing to acquire and maintain trusted trader status, to demonstrate that goods do not reach the EU and to carry “Not for EU” labels. None of these border frictions applies in an internal market. Will the Minister be honest and admit that if GB submits to EU law regarding imports under these regulations, what is on offer is not a movement from GB to Northern Ireland in the UK internal market but movement, as I said, through an alternative GB/EU/NI trade border system? This arrangement is unsustainable and it is unjust because, as has been said over and again in this House, it involves accommodating the desire of 27 other states to disrespect the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom, in violation of international law, as was said by the noble Lord, and undermining our democracy. It is not sustainable. I just wish that His Majesty’s Government and the Minister would be honest about what this regulation actually does, in further dividing Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.