Lords EU Committee want answers on Government's backstop alternative
Lord Kinnoull, Chair of the House of Lords EU Committee, has today written to Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay MP setting out a series of questions on the Government's proposed Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland that the Government would like to see replace the ‘backstop' in the EU withdrawal agreement.
The Committee have asked the Government to provide the full legal text of the proposed Protocol by 8 October and respond to a series of question it sets out by 11 October. Some of the questions the Committee demands answers on include:
- What dialogue the Government has had with the EU and Irish Government and how the UK Government will respond to EU concerns about the legal basis of the proposals and their enforcement.
- What the proposals mean for Northern Ireland's place in any Free Trade Agreements reached by the UK with third countries
- The assessments the Government have made of the economic impact for business of customs controls on the island of Ireland.
- What scale of physical checks will be required under the Government's proposals.
- What assessment the Government has made of the likely level of smuggling and VAT evasion under its proposals.
- Whether the Government would request an extension to the transition period if that is required to ensure the new customs and regulatory controls are operational.
- How the proposals to allow Stormont to agree the protocol will work given the Northern Ireland Assembly has not met since January 2017.
- Whether the proposed requirement for consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly amounts to a veto power for those preferring UK alignment over EU alignment.
The letter comes ahead of evidence session the Committee will hold on the Government's proposals for a revised protocol from 10:30am on Tuesday 8 October.
