Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (DUP)

My Lords, I will speak to the amendment in my name and make four main points. First, these regulations provide a graphic demonstration of the humiliating nature of the Windsor Framework. The substantive legislation which they enforce is EU Regulation 2023/1542. This legislation took effect in Northern Ireland automatically on 17 August 2023 by means of a dynamic aligning of the UK, with respect to Northern Ireland, with the EU, effectively treating part of the United Kingdom as an EU colony. Northern Ireland legislators were not even briefed on this matter. The first we learned of it was three years later, reading the Explanatory Notes to the regulations before us today, the purpose of which is to serve the EU by providing a means for enforcing its legislation. Secondly, the enforcement that these regulations provide is deeply problematic. Speaking when these regulations were debated in another place on 8 July, the Minister stated: “Offences are put in one of three penalty groups: summary-only offences, such as those subject to a fine, which can be unlimited; either-way offences; or imprisonment for up to 12 months and/or an unlimited fine for the most serious indictable-only offences. Offences include failure to keep appropriate due-diligence documentation; failure of a supplier of battery cells and modules to provide documentation to manufacturers; and failure by an importer to comply with certain battery safety-related obligations. Those fall into penalty groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively”.—[Official Report, Commons, Delegated Legislation Committee, 8/7/26; col. 4.] Let us take a step back for a moment. If the norm of the 18th century was such that there could be no taxation without representation then plainly we cannot contemplate fines and imprisonment in the 21st century further to contravention of laws unless the citizens in question were represented in the making of those laws that they have broken. The EU is expecting the United Kingdom Government not only to subject part of themselves to EU law but to introduce a legislative mechanism whereby EU law can be imposed with sanctions depriving UK citizens of money in the form of fines or potentially of their liberty through imprisonment. This is constitutionally completely absurd and unacceptable. Thirdly, we need to confront how these regulations are implicated in destroying the United Kingdom internal market for goods. By providing enforcement, the regulations before us today bring EU Regulation 2023/1542 into full effect, creating a new legal market for batteries as a matter of practice, subject to different rules from the rest of the United Kingdom. The regulations are called the “placing on the market” regulations, where the market in question is the EU internal market, not a United Kingdom internal market, which necessarily becomes, by default, a GB internal market for goods for these purposes. This presents an economic challenge for Northern Ireland. If we manufacture our own batteries, we will not do so on a level playing field with the rest of the United Kingdom, because we will be subject to EU regulations that do not apply to Great Britain. If, as a small and until recently completely integrated part of the United Kingdom economy, we get most of our batteries from GB, we will not be able to do so going forward unless GB companies provide batteries to the requirements of EU law and also pay to get additional Northern Ireland marking. Will they do this for a tiny market? This presents a very real supply chain concern. Fourthly, the Explanatory Memorandum attending these regulations is unlike the memoranda accompanying many other regulations forged in deference to the Windsor Framework. Often they state that the Government are planning to prevent divergence between Great Britain and Northern Ireland by bringing GB into line with Northern Ireland, and thus with the EU. However, the Explanatory Memorandum accompanying these regulations does no such thing. This prompted real concern that, on this matter, London was ready to cut Northern Ireland off, which resulted in concerns being expressed to the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee of your Lordships’ House. In the other place, the Minister said: “Let me be clear that we will take any steps necessary to continue to meet the Government’s commitment to protect the UK’s internal market. That is why we will consult in the autumn on an aligned regime in Great Britain that is consistent with the EU’s 2023 batteries regulation”.—[Official Report, Commons, Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee, 8/7/26; col. 5.] Thus, along with the tumble dryers regulations and the machinery regulations, the battery regulations now become an early expression of the Government’s reset policy with the EU. In closing, I want to anticipate and respond to the counterargument deployed by the Minister in another place when proposing this legislation in July. She said: “Implementing the measures helps Northern Ireland to maintain its dual market access”.—[Official Report, Commons, Seventh Delegated Legislation Committee, 8/7/26; col. 4.] The sense was that all the problems that I have outlined were worth while because of the great prize of dual market access. But let me be quite clear: dual market access is a myth. If Northern Ireland enjoyed dual market access, there would be no Irish Sea customs border or UK/Republic of Ireland customs border. Northern Ireland would enjoy unfettered input access, unfettered sales access to the rest of the United Kingdom, and unfettered input and sales access to the Republic. What has actually taken place is that Northern Ireland has been forced to exchange unfettered access to its home economy of nearly 70 million for unfettered access to another proximate economy of about 5 million. Rather than becoming less problematic over time, the Irish Sea border is becoming more problematic with every new piece of legislation that is published to try to accommodate it. This position is completely unsustainable. The Irish Sea customs and international SPS border must go. I beg to move.