Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)

My Lords, I declare my interest as a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which considered these regulations, and, like others, of the Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee, which also dealt in some small way with this issue, in that when we were in Newry, we took evidence from a representative of one of the car dealerships, and in fact I have had further discussions with him. I would say that the root cause of all this is Brexit. Brexit means less choice and more cost for new car sales. In fact, after Brexit I was a victim of that, because I was seeking to purchase a new Renault Clio, and it took me some seven months in 2022 to secure that new car, because all the parts arrived from France, they were constructed and put together in Britain, and then the car was brought to Northern Ireland along with other similar cars. Then, when I got a flat tyre, it transpired that the wrong spare had been placed in the car. Therefore, it caused a lot of difficulties and challenges. A consequence of Brexit is divergence. The people of Northern Ireland voted on a majority basis to remain within the European Union. Surely, safety standards in the UK and EU in terms of car manufacturing are similar, if not the same, so surely a solution could be found there. The report from the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee states: “While the existence of two vehicle approval regimes in the UK is a consequence of the Windsor Framework, we urge the DfT to consider all potential barriers that manufacturers may face in obtaining dual approval and the resulting impact on NI”. Our Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee, back in April and May this year, wrote to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. In his response to our chair, the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, the Secretary of State said that the Government were “keen that Northern Ireland consumers have access to the same vehicles and models … as in Great Britain, and a key part of that is ensuring manufacturers can dual-approve vehicles to both the GB and EU type approval schemes”. Having talked to the dealership, I note that it cannot understand and finds it totally inexplicable that the same standards in the EU and GB do not exist. The Secretary of State further states: “Our goal is to ensure that the regulations that apply in the UK work well for businesses and to address practical issues where we can. We are working closely with manufacturers to ensure that UK-wide approvals for vehicles are available, and are considering what more we can do to smooth processes and fix any issues that may arise”. I ask my noble friend the Minister: what further progress has been made in relation to this issue, as the Department for Transport has overall responsibility? In fact, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland says in that letter that “we continue to monitor regulatory activity in the EU and have recently adopted consistent rules for the design of rear registration plate space on vehicles. The Government intends to make announcements shortly on its intention in regard to a number of other EU regulations, including the Euro 6e emission standard”. I ask my noble friend the Minister if he could advise us on that. I will ask some other questions. Has the Department for Transport considered the delay in procuring cars, as they have to comply with certain regulations, and the impact on the local economy? Like the noble Lord, Lord Dodds, I was told that there are problems for Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan, Renault, Vauxhall and Citroën. People want to access such cars. They have used them traditionally, and they want to continue to use them, because they are cost effective. What impact will this delay in the provision of certain EU car models to Northern Ireland have on our local economy? The noble Lord, Lord Dodds, has already amplified that, but we want a solution to that, and we always have to remember that. I am clearly somebody who wants to see a route back to membership of the EU. I support the Windsor Framework but, where there are obstacles and challenges, they should be resolved and the Government should work directly with the EU as part of the reset in order to try to achieve something that is meaningful, practical and pragmatic. Last week, a BBC story emerged out of the Northern Ireland Assembly economy committee in relation to this issue. Undoubtedly, we need the challenges, delays and lack of knowledge among businesses around the Windsor Framework to be resolved as quickly as possible. In that regard, I ask the Minister to outline when these issues around new car sales and approvals will be resolved, and to outline what discussions have taken place with the European Union to ensure that this happens. Furthermore, when will we receive responses to the recently published reports, which dealt with the challenges and fissures in the system? One, the Independent Review of the Windsor Framework, was produced by my noble friend Lord Murphy; one, Strengthening Northern Ireland’s Voice in the Context of the Windsor Framework, was produced by our Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee; and the third was produced by the Independent Monitoring Panel. They dealt with the challenges, difficulties and issues that need to be resolved. I agree that there may need to be a delay in the transition to this, in order to ensure that those difficulties can be resolved, but we must all remember that with Brexit came divergence and that it is difficult to achieve convergence in those circumstances.