Mr (The Chancellor of the Duchy
of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet
Office): The Government is today publishing a paper,
UK Government commitments to Northern Ireland and its integral
place in the United Kingdom, which outlines a package of
commitments to the people of Northern Ireland as we leave the EU -
giving Northern Ireland a strong voice and role in any decision to
bring the backstop into effect, and in its implementation in that
scenario.
These commitments underline Northern Ireland’s integral
place in the United Kingdom and reflect that it is
the only part of the United Kingdom sharing a land border with an
EU member state. They seek to address some of the
questions that have been asked about the backstop in that regard.
We recognise that these alone will not address all of
Parliament’s concerns - including for those who have focused on
changes from the EU. But it is right that we look to do what we
can as a Government to safeguard the interests of the people and
businesses of Northern Ireland, and respond to some of the key
concerns that have been raised.
The commitments include:
-
Setting out that no new areas of EU law would be
applied in a backstop scenario without seeking the agreement
of the Northern Ireland Assembly;
-
Ensuring unfettered access for Northern Ireland
businesses to the Great Britain economy.
-
Providing a strong role for Stormont before the
backstop could be triggered;
-
Giving the Northern Ireland Executive a role in
Northern Ireland-specific discussions between the UK and EU
under the structures established in the Withdrawal
Agreement;
-
Outlining that there would be no regulatory divergence
between GB and NI in areas covered by the backstop in any
scenario in which it applied;
-
A guarantee that there would be no change to
North-South cooperation through the Protocol, preserving the
arrangements under Strand II of the Belfast (‘Good
Friday’) Agreement;
-
A powerful voice for Northern Ireland in future
relationship negotiations - putting the voice of the Northern
Ireland Executive, along with the other Devolved
Administrations, at the heart of that work.
The Government is publishing this paper ahead of the
commencement of the meaningful vote debate on the withdrawal
deal.
