Debate contribution: Democratic Consent Resolution

Debate contribution by Mr Peter Martin on 10 December 2024.

MLA

Mr Peter Martin

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

10 December 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Democratic Consent Resolution

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4716440

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Given the hour and the length of the debate, I have reduced my speech from a chunky 45 minutes to a concise 30 minutes.

I hear cheers from around the Assembly Chamber. I do not want to go into the technical details of the articles, as they have already been well rehearsed by colleagues over the course of the debate. Of course, it will be a surprise to no one in the Chamber that there is disparity of opinion as to how we approach them. I simply point out — I have heard this from Members today — that the debate is not about Brexit, and it is certainly not a rehash of Brexit. Rather, it is about the continued application of articles 5 to 10 of the protocol. In my remarks, I want to focus on consumer choice and some of the impacts that those articles have in Northern Ireland. A report from the Consumer Council in July 2024, entitled 'Consumer experiences of retailers not delivering to Northern Ireland', cites a couple of interesting points, and I want to highlight them to the House. It states:

"Where retailers do deliver to NI, many consumers report certain conditions are applied such as weight restrictions, additional delivery delays, additional delivery fees".

Whilst those issues are clearly problematic for consumers in Northern Ireland, I could not, in all conscience, necessarily tie them to the operation of the protocol. However, the report also states that 86% of consumers who shop online said that they:

"have found that items they were looking for could not be delivered to NI".

I contend that articles 5 to 10 are responsible for some of those items not being available to purchasers in Northern Ireland, and that that is limiting consumer choice.

I thank the Member for her comments, and I concur fully. It is crucial not only informationally for businesses in GB but, as I was saying, for consumer choice in Northern Ireland that Intertrade UK start its work. Finally, the report highlights the very worrying figure that over 75% of consumers who had experienced difficulties with GB retailers delivering to Northern Ireland said that they now shop a lot less from those retailers. I am sure that no one in the House wants to see that. It is crystal clear to me that the public want consumer choice when making a purchase, and, in my view, the findings of that report provide evidence of the damage that the articles are causing to choice. We have heard other Members talk about some of the products affected by the legislation, and I will not rehearse those. Even some of the most mundane items have been affected by what I might call protocol mission creep. As an example, I looked up the DAERA regulations that apply if you want to purchase hay in Scotland and bring it across to Northern Ireland. That is not a particularly dangerous substance: it does not have any corrosive acids, it cannot explode and it is certainly not poisonous. The regulations are, however, significant. The DAERA website says that you need to be registered on TRACES NT, which is the EU’s trade control and expert system. You need to pre-notify DAERA of the arrival of the consignment by creating a common health entry document for products of animal origin — the document is known as a CHED P, which is quite a catchy title — on TRACES at least 24 hours before the hay enters Northern Ireland. When you have completed that, you have to input a further code to tell whether it is straw or hay. I know the difference because I married a farmer's daughter, but those regulations are significant. This morning, when I finally went to the DAERA website and tried to click to see the additional guidance — that is not all the guidance — I was told that access was denied. I was not authorised to view that page. Perhaps DAERA knows that I am not a farmer or perhaps the information is just way above my security clearance. My salient point stands: all of that to move hay from Scotland to Northern Ireland. In my view, that is not good enough. I am also concerned about, as the deputy First Minister mentioned, the chilling effect on businesses in GB that want to sell in Northern Ireland. Those are commercial decisions that firms are being forced to make when assessing whether to make their goods available here in Northern Ireland. An example of that will occur this Friday — Friday the thirteenth — and the DFM referenced it in her speech. After that date, general product safety regulations will apply to goods sold into Northern Ireland from GB. I will quote directly from the Government's advice:

"For products regulated by GPSR there must be a responsible economic operator in place to ensure compliance regulations are fulfilled."

Those regulations also introduce certain requirements for product labelling, traceability and documentation, as well as clarifying that online marketplaces are also within the scope of these regs. I do not have to tell Members that that means further costs for sellers from GB to Northern Ireland. The Federation of Small Businesses said the following about the regs:

"FSB continues to be very concerned about the difficulties faced by SMEs exporting into the EU under the terms of the UK/EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement. SMEs are particularly vulnerable to any additional costs incurred in the course of doing business."

One adviser on eBay said, rather succinctly, on the sellers' forums:

"Seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut, but I would also assume you'd be OK if you removed Northern Ireland from your delivery locations".

That is the last thing that we would want to see. In Northern Ireland, since 1998, within the safeguards and equality section of the Belfast Agreement, every individual has a right to democratically pursue national and political aspirations, and we do that in this Chamber. However, tonight, MLAs are voting on a highly contentious issue using a simple majority, and my colleagues have already reflected on that. There is a mechanism to provide for such votes in the Belfast Agreement that is being ignored today. I simply point out the irony that unionists were told, throughout the Brexit negotiations, about the importance of the Belfast Agreement in all its parts, yet the requirement for cross-community consent for today's vote was unilaterally removed by the previous Government. We have talked a lot about blame in the Chamber this afternoon and this evening. The blame for that falls, in my eyes, on one person: Boris Johnson. The aftermath of his saying one thing and then doing the complete opposite finally caught up with the Conservative Party in the recent election. They seamlessly, with Johnson's help, managed to turn a very large Tory majority into the largest wipeout of the party in modern history. My colleague the Education Minister mentioned the Wirral deal, where Boris Johnson signed off much of the democratic responsibility for Northern Ireland. Ironically, that was because people did not particularly like Labour but they just could not trust the Conservative Party any more. However, as the former Prime Minister finally realised to his chagrin, those who live by the sword often die by the sword. In conclusion, this party has been working consistently and diligently to right the wrongs caused by the damage of the imposition of these articles. As has been mentioned, we voted against the imposition of the Northern Ireland protocol at our national Parliament in Westminster and at the European Parliament. Tonight, we will vote against the motion, because it is our firm belief that it is contrary to the best interests of Northern Ireland, and we urge others to join us. I see that the AERA Minister is not in his place, but in honour of him — I am not a Spice Girls fan; I am more of a Pink Floyd guy — I perhaps suggest that some Members of the Chamber are 'Comfortably Numb' to the operation of the protocol in Northern Ireland.

1,351 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:46 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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