Lord Blencathra (Con)

My Lords, I thank the Minister for bringing forward these regulations and being present to hear the concerns of noble Lords; I look forward to her response. Once again, I found the arguments of the noble Lords from Northern Ireland and my noble friends on the constitutional difficulties of these regulations to be compelling. I will begin by addressing the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown. I repeat the sentiments of what I said last week: the Windsor Framework was an improvement on the Northern Ireland protocol, but that is not to say it has no flaws or that my party is not willing to improve it further, as we all must. The noble Lord, and other noble Lords and my noble friends, are right: we cannot let the integrity of the union, and Northern Ireland’s place in it, be quietly undermined through secondary legislation—secondary legislation that seems quite straightforward, innocuous and trivial, and appears not to change much, but collectively begins to lever Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. I welcome the wise words of the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman of Darlington, whom I also miss on the Front Bench. I think she is the first Labour person opposite who I have heard say that the Windsor Framework needs a bit of tweaking. I think she suggested that it needed quite a bit of tweaking. I and my noble friends would probably like it to be tweaked a lot more than she would, but she has taken a very good stance, and I agree that it can be done quietly and by speaking quite softly. These regulations fully implement the EU’s regulations on batteries and replace the previous 2006 batteries directive to improve battery safety and environmental performance. We understand that the Government received a limited number of responses to their engagement and so concluded that stakeholders are content with these regulations. That may be the case, but can the Minister say what assessment they have made of the impact on the UK’s internal market more widely, as well as on the competitiveness of Northern Ireland businesses specifically within our internal market? The Minister in the other place—and the Minister here—said that the Government “will consult on an aligned regime across the whole UK that is consistent and will provide a unified regulatory framework across the UK and the EU”.—[Official Report, Commons, Delegated Legislation Committee, 8/7/26; col. 12.] Does that form part of the Government’s wider aims for dynamic alignment, and what is the basis for alignment in this specific regulatory area? I agree with my noble friend Lord Frost: when the Government consult on this, I think we all know what the outcome will be—that the UK must adopt similar legislation to that in Northern Ireland and adopt the EU regulation. In that case, let us cut out the comedy of doing a long consultation and get on with it. If we are going to align UK battery policy with Northern Ireland battery policy and EU battery policy, let us do it quickly so that we do not have any lacuna and the industry can crack on with it. I say that not because I want to be aligned with EU policy but because, if the Government are going to do it, then, whatever they do, they should do it quickly. Important points have been raised by all the noble Lords from Northern Ireland, as well as by my noble friends and the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman. I look forward to the Minister’s response.