Debate contribution: UK-EU Customs Union

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 9 February 2026.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

9 February 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

UK-EU Customs Union

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5369950

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Part of the motion is about trade, and seamless trade would be broadly welcomed and my party and I would not oppose it. Also, we need to be realistic and realise that free trade is, essentially, freedom of capital to crush the worker, as somebody once said. People should have the free-flowing access to goods that they need, and much is made about the restrictions and the other issues coming out of EU exit, which, obviously, was not an unimportant event. However, I do not think that enough is made in this debate about the actions, in a general sense, of large multinational companies and their decisions being motivated, exclusively, by maximising profits. Greater profits for them do not mean higher wages for people here. It is also worth noting the use of tariffs. What are tariffs? They are a toll by corporations and the ruling class to jostle with and outfight each other and to, again, maximise profits and punish the working-class people of other countries, who have the same interests at heart. In some ways, we are entering — if not in it already — a different epoch in trade, how states interact and how the global North responds to economic difficulties. Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, has said that the rules-based order is over. He had his own reasons for saying that, but I do not think that it ever existed in a real sense, because people guilty of war crimes walk free in America, Europe, Israel and elsewhere. I hope sincerely that there can be a new international system of cooperation, working together in a commitment to peace. Left to the people in charge, however, that is a fanciful dream. The people running the world economy operate in the interests of corporations, polluters and the arms industry. If there is to be a break from that rotten and depraved economic and political system, it can come only from the people who are ground down by it. For the best part of 40-plus years, we have had Governments in America, Britain and, probably, most of Europe trying to break down barriers to trade to increase trade and open up markets and exploit people but to have trade free-flowing, relatively speaking. Now, we are in a different era, where tariffs can more essentially be the order of the day. That is not hyperbole. Take any newspaper from Britain, Ireland or anywhere in Europe and you will see the drive to war, and tariffs are real and threatening. The motion refers to "geopolitical uncertainty". It is clear that we are in a time of climate change, financial instability and uncertain economic times — and, as I said, the beating of war drums. The academic Adam Tooze talks about a "polycrisis", a combination or connection of multiple crises. They are not just connected but are intertwined: supply chain disruptions, financial system failures and geopolitical instability are all one part of one fragile, global network. Going back to the motion, we often hear in the House about the European Union being a key promoter and defender of human rights. Nobody could say that with a straight face when you see the role played by Ursula von der Leyen in supporting Israel's slaughter — genocide — in Gaza. She articulated repeatedly her and the EU's unending support for Israel and paid a solidarity visit to Netanyahu, supporting the flow of weapons to that apartheid state. She also articulated that Ukrainians had a right to resist in opposing an invading Russian army, but Palestinians were told to accept mass slaughter and starvation, but we do not hear anything in the House about that. We also hear nothing in the House about the EU's migration strategy. What is it? I do not know whether people follow the debate closely, but essentially it is a policy reminiscent of Trump's ICE approach. Keir Starmer, who is Prime Minister for now but hopefully for not much longer —

I absolutely will. The motion refers to geopolitical issues, and I am talking about those and the EU's role in those, Mr Deputy Speaker. I will bring my remarks to a close in a second. That policy is reminiscent of Trump's, what Jim O'Callaghan is doing in the South and Keir Starmer's. What the plan will do — it is important that this is on the record, because nobody raised it today — is deport people from Europe to third countries in which they never lived and with which have no social ties. That is a real rotten, dangerous and, for many, deadly plan. That is extremely important. European leaders often present themselves as members of the civilised garden — leave aside the racial undertones of that comment — but they are looking to ramp up deportations, raids and, rather than stand up to Trump, be a smaller, poorer version of him, and we should resist that.

OK.

820 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:33 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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