Lord Browne of Belmont (DUP)

My Lords, I support the amendment in the name of my noble friend Lord McCrea. The Government present the regulations as a technical measure concerned with the placing of batteries on the market. However, like so many regulations flowing from the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, they raise issues that extend far beyond their immediate subject matter. They concern the principle of equal treatment within our United Kingdom, the burden placed upon Northern Ireland businesses and the continuing erosion of democratic accountability. At the practical level, these regulations impose obligations on traders, manufacturers and distributors operating in Northern Ireland that are not faced by many of their counterparts elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Businesses will have to familiarise themselves with new requirements, maintain compliance procedures, keep appropriate documents and ensure that products satisfy the latest relevant regulatory standards. The Government may regard these obligations as modest but, for many small businesses and medium-sized enterprises, they are anything but. A family-run wholesaler or retailer in Northern Ireland does not have a dedicated compliance department or a team of lawyers on hand to interpret evolving rules. Every new requirement means additional paper, additional administrative time, additional record keeping and, of course, additional cost. Businesses supplying both GB and Northern Ireland may find themselves having to operate under distinct regulatory arrangements. That can mean separate packaging, documentation, compliance checks and reporting requirements. These costs are very real for small traders working on very tight margins. We must also consider the enforcement regime that accompanies these obligations. Businesses are not merely being asked to comply with another set of rules; they are being asked to do so under the threat of investigation, enforcement and sanctions if they fail. A trader who inadvertently breaks these technical requirements may face compliance notices, restrictions on the sale of products or further legal proceedings. The real concern is not simply the penalty but the risk that accompanies it. This debate is therefore about far more than batteries. It is about democracy, accountability and equal citizenship. The issue is not simply an environmental policy; it is a question of equal treatment under the law. Businesses in Northern Ireland deserve legal certainty. They deserve democratic accountability and the same regulatory framework as their counterparts in the rest of the United Kingdom, unless there is a compelling justification otherwise. Increasingly, however, we see Northern Ireland subject to distinct requirements which create barriers within the internal market of our own nation. My noble friend Lord McCrea’s amendment rightly highlights these concerns. It recognises that every new layer of regulatory divergence carries practical consequences for traders and constitutional consequences for Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom. I support my noble friend Lord McCrea’s amendment.