The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Baroness Hayman of Ullock) (Lab)

My Lords, I start by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Frost, for introducing the Motion, and all noble Lords who have contributed to the debate today. The purpose of the instrument is to facilitate the continued smooth movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland by achieving alignment with the European Union on its import controls. It is a small, technical change so that businesses can continue to benefit from the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme’s simplified arrangements. This instrument does not amend or extend the Windsor Framework in any way, nor does it introduce new policy. Its purpose is simply to update existing biosecurity requirements so that established trading arrangements can continue to operate effectively. It is a minor, pragmatic change that is intended to guard against pests and to protect the biosecurity of the island of Ireland. Without this legislation, these goods would no longer be eligible to move under the NIRM scheme. As a result, traders moving these goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland would lose access to the simplified processes, creating unnecessary costs and complexity for businesses. The Government remain committed to implementing the Windsor Framework because it supports trade, reduces unnecessary barriers and provides certainty for businesses. This instrument makes a modest but important contribution by ensuring that existing arrangements continue to operate effectively. Speeches may have been short, but a large number of questions have been asked. I have only 10 minutes to respond, so I will do my best to work my way through them and will write to answer any that I do not reach. The noble Lord, Lord Frost, asked about the purpose of the SI. I have just explained why we are doing it: through protecting the biosecurity of the island of Ireland, we are looking to maintain the flow of trade between GB and Northern Ireland. The provisions in the SI introduce additional pest-related import measures targeting a type of fruit fly for tomatoes and peppers from Taiwan and Israel, and a plant pathogen for ginger from rest-of-the-world countries. We need proof that consignments are free from these pests because, if we do not have it, as I said, people cannot access those markets. We need an additional declaration as part of the phytosanitary certificate that is specific to the pest. Keeping GB aligned with EU import controls will mean that the additional pest control measures will be checked for these goods on entry into GB, which will enable the goods to travel onwards to Northern Ireland using simplified certification. The noble Lord, Lord Lilley, asked about the impacts of the SI. The impacts to industry are minimal but necessary. Over the course of a three-year period from 2023 to 2025, there were zero imported consignments of tomatoes, peppers and ginger from Taiwan. There were 226 consignments of peppers, one of aubergines and zero of ginger imported from Israel. The largest impact that this SI introduces will be to ginger imported from rest-of-the-world countries. Over the same three-year period, 3,671 consignments of ginger were imported. The total net direct cost of this SI across the whole of industry is estimated to be £10,000. This one-off cost is mainly based on familiarisation costs to businesses, ensuring they are up-to-date and compliant with the new technical guidance. However, as businesses will need to align with the necessary biosecurity-driven changes implemented by the EU anyway, any additional burdens or costs incurred by traders would not be as a direct result of these regulations. The noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, asked about labelling. Our priority is to make sure that businesses do not face unnecessary or disproportionate burdens. We expect the need for businesses to label goods “Not for EU” to diminish significantly as a result of the future arrangements under the SPS agreement. The noble Lord, Lord Elliott, made an important point about the impacts on businesses, which is one of the reasons I meet regularly with businesses and their representatives when I go to Northern Ireland, because we need to understand the impacts properly. The noble Lord, Lord Weir, said that the NIRM scheme does not secure unfettered trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However, the Windsor Framework provides a stable legal foundation to facilitate the Northern Ireland retail movement scheme, allowing everyday goods to move more easily from GB to Northern Ireland. It does so while protecting biosecurity on the island of Ireland, which has been treated as a single epidemiological unit for decades. It also safeguards Northern Ireland’s access to the EU single market. Pragmatism has been mentioned. I thank my noble friend Lady Chapman for her comments on the need for pragmatism. It is one of the reasons we do what we do. The noble Lords, Lord Morrow and Lord Roborough, talked about consultation. No public consultation was undertaken on this SI because there was no statutory duty to do so. However, I reassure noble Lords that the Government engaged closely with industry when the NIRM scheme was originally established, including on the list of goods eligible to move under the scheme. This instrument makes limited updates to the existing requirements, so that goods already covered by the scheme can continue to benefit from its simplified arrangements. We will continue to engage closely with traders, to ensure that any future arrangements support smooth trade to Northern Ireland. The noble Lord, Lord Frost, implied that the UK has ceded biosecurity responsibilities for Northern Ireland to the EU. We retain complete autonomy to make our own regulatory decisions, and we are committed to maintaining robust biosecurity protections across all parts of the UK. We continue to protect against many of the same significant disease and pest risks as our European neighbours. As noble Lords will be aware, and as I have said, the island of Ireland has been treated as an epidemiological unit for decades. We need to look at the practical realities of managing animal and plant health risks. Therefore, the island of Ireland would align on biosecurity matters, regardless of EU regulations or the Windsor Framework. The upcoming SPS agreement was mentioned by a number of noble Lords; the noble Lord, Lord Redwood, discussed regulatory influence. I recognise these concerns but do not agree that the arrangements would place us in the same position as when we were a member of the EU. As I said, we retain complete autonomy to make our own regulatory decisions. However, I remind the noble Lords that the matter before us today is this technical instrument. While broader discussions on the SPS agreement are important, they are separate from the measures contained specifically in this statutory instrument. This is designed to reduce paperwork and other barriers to trade, and to support farmers, food producers and exporters right across the UK. The Government believe that it is important to deliver those benefits for businesses and consumers and that this is firmly in the UK’s national interest. My noble friend Lady Ritchie and the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, asked about the timings of the SPS agreement. I confirm that negotiations are at an advanced stage. Now that we have the new Prime Minister in place, we are looking at a date for the summit. The Windsor Framework was also mentioned a number of times. The SPS agreement is designed to remove the majority of regulatory barriers for agri-food products and to tackle the wider barriers relating to trade in organic products and key agri-food marketing standards. My noble friend Lady Ritchie referred to the fact that establishing a common SPS area with the EU means that most movements will be made without the need for the majority of certificates or other routine SPS border controls that are currently required for such movements. These same benefits would be extended to movements between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, said that the Windsor Framework must go. It is worth reminding ourselves of what it delivers. It is not perfect but, as the noble Lord, Lord Bew, said, we do not have a better way forward. It provides a durable means of protecting the Belfast/Good Friday agreement, avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland, and maintaining the smooth functioning of trade within the UK. It preserves Northern Ireland’s unique access to both the UK internal market and the EU market for goods. The Government remain fully committed to delivering it. The noble Lord, Lord Frost, mentioned AI. The substantive provisions of the EU’s AI Act and the Cyber Resilience Act do not apply in Northern Ireland and would apply only following an agreement by the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee. The noble Lord, Lord Empey, asked about the trade and co-operation agreement. As I am sure the noble Lord is aware, at the meeting of the EU-UK Partnership Council on 2 February, the UK and the EU agreed that the review of the implementation had been largely completed via commitments undertaken at the 2025 UK-EU summit on the common understanding. Both sides are continuing to engage with stakeholders, and we will announce the conclusion of the review later this year. The noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, asked why Northern Ireland is still being treated differently. It is important to look at the biosecurity issues that I have talked about and the importance for trade. I am about to run out of time—I am very sorry—so I will have to wind up now. This is a pragmatic way we need in order to move forward. We need to ensure Northern Ireland and GB trade can continue in the smoothest way possible. This statutory instrument enables that.