Lord Empey (UUP)

My Lords, I speak in the gap. I was a member of the committee when this report was written. I wanted to be here to support it and suggest that it should be read, particularly by those who perhaps have only a peripheral knowledge of Northern Ireland. We were greatly assisted by our staff. I had the pleasure of being on the previous committee chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Jay. With him and the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, we have been well served by two excellent chairs and a great team to back it up. My first point is to suggest that the committee’s remit is temporary; it is only two years since it was set up. I cannot see circumstances in the immediate future when there will not be a necessity for this committee to carry out scrutiny of Northern Ireland issues. While I know it is not the Minister’s responsibility but a matter for the House, I want to put it on record that this committee should continue. It is inconceivable that such significant matters, affecting not only constitutional but economic areas, should not be looked at somewhere in Parliament. I commend that to the parties in the House. The issue that is now called the one-stop shop, from the sub-committee that was formed in 2021, has been a consistent theme. How is it that we cannot record each divergence as we go along? Now we will have to go back five years, but it should have been obvious to anybody at the beginning that there should be somewhere that a business or a member of the public can go to see what the divergence is. Or, if you are going to a potential inward investor, you should have somewhere to show them that this is how we do it here and how we do it there. It is not rocket science and I hope that we can resolve it, because it has been a unified theme throughout this debate. I have to say that the Minister has just been accorded a well-deserved promotion to the Cabinet Office. She is roaring with power; now is the chance to strike and get a commitment that this will be dealt with and that she will deliver the response. I gently remind the noble Lord, Lord Lilley, of the phrase—attributed, I think, to Dr Johnson—that there is nothing as permanent as the temporary. I fear that this problem will be around for some time. He is right to say that the European Union is entitled to protect its market, but I have to say that we have gone OTT. There is the potential for somebody to bring goods into Northern Ireland that are inappropriately manufactured and inconsistent with European regulations, they could theoretically get across the border, but to do that the person would have to go through two or three different sea journeys at enormous expense. I think there is an alternative way. The noble Lord mentioned one, but there are others that could involve the Northern Ireland Assembly and perhaps other institutions that have been set up in recent years. There is no reason why we should have to punish our local businesses and consumers. I am quite sure that, with the right attitude in the negotiations, that can be achieved. I have asked several Parliamentary Questions about this. Under the trade and co-operation agreement, 2026 is a year of review. I would like to believe that the Government have a clear strategy for this review and that these issues will be in it—not simply in the reset but in the review that is under the terms of the treaty.