Supply of Machinery (Safety) (Amendment etc.) and the EU Machinery Regulation (Enforcement etc. in Northern Ireland) Regulations 2026

Baroness Hoey Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2026 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Baroness Hoey]

At end insert “but that this House regrets that the draft Regulations place a different legal requirement on the supply of machinery in Northern Ireland in order to comply with the Windsor Framework; risk interrupting the Northern Ireland supply chain from Great Britain; and increase pressure for the same EU requirements to be imposed on Great Britain, thereby undermining regulatory freedoms in Great Britain in order to prevent divergence from the EU.”

[Baroness Hoey (Non-Afl)]

It is good to see the Minister in his place; he obviously has not had a telephone call today, which we all welcome, I am sure. This statutory instrument covers the regulation of both workplace machinery and consumer products, including excavators, cranes and leaf blowers, and potentially even lawnmowers. It provides an enforcement mechanism for the Government for a law that automatically applies to Northern Ireland because of the dynamic alignment provisions of the Windsor Framework.

This regulation was made on 14 June 2023. That date is important, because it is more than two years after we left the EU, and it was made by a legislature in which no part of the United Kingdom was represented. It was made not out of any regard for the people of Northern Ireland or any other part of the UK. It tells us that we have not really left the EU; we have simply made our subjection to Brussels that much more abject, imposing a trade border dividing our own country.

The regulation does not come into force, as the Minister has said, until 20 January 2027, so the European Union member state economies have had nearly four years to prepare, but Northern Ireland has not. As the Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee has recognised, dynamic alignment means that businesses do not know all the laws to which they are subject or even when they will be brought in. In addition to introducing an enforcement regime, these regulations amend domestic legislation so that machinery that meets the updated EU requirements can continue to be placed on the market in Great Britain.

This treats Northern Ireland as if it is a self-sufficient economy that needs only the opportunity to sell its goods to the rest of the UK to succeed. There is a determination by the Government to minimise the impact of the Windsor Framework by saying that goods can move unfettered from Northern Ireland to GB, as if that is the only relevant part of being in the UK internal market, when, in truth, as a small and totally independent part of the UK economy, just as, if not more, important is the unfettered movement of goods and, critically, inputs from GB to Northern Ireland. The EU regulation has effect in Northern Ireland in all respects apart from enforcement, without our Government having to do anything, and yet we heard nothing about it until three years after it had been passed.

Normally, the Cabinet Office would produce an Explanatory Memorandum that considered the impact of legislation and gave us some idea of the cost of compliance. However, despite being passed more than three years ago, as I said, I can see no Explanatory Memorandum or government assessment of the cost of complying with EU Regulation 2023/1230.

Let us be clear. We are being asked to pass legislation enforcing a law that we did not make and have never debated. I addressed a Written Parliamentary Question on cost to the noble Baroness, Lady Anderson, but, rather than setting out the cost, the Answer suggested on the basis of highly controversial and contested assumptions that the overall impact would be positive. There was no attempt to set out the cost. One of the supposed benefits set to outweigh cost was dual market access, which, far from making Northern Ireland the Singapore of the West, has not been responsible for generating a single case of inward investment into Northern Ireland. It cannot and will not, because Northern Ireland plc does not enjoy dual market input access, which would be needed to make dual market access a net benefit rather than a net cost to Northern Ireland.

The Explanatory Memorandum suggests that goods made under this legislation in Northern Ireland must meet EU tests, resulting in their obtaining UKNI markings, and that if they also obtain CE markings, they can be sold in Great Britain. The key question, however, is whether the goods governed by these regulations can be made in Great Britain and then sold in Northern Ireland without encountering new border frictions. The critical question that lies behind that first question is: will a company based in Great Britain that sells most of its goods to Great Britain and that probably will not want the hassle of arranging the cost of separate conformity checks and getting the UKNI and the CE marking to access just 3% of the UK market continue to sell products into Northern Ireland?

When these regulations were debated in the other place, the honourable Member for North Antrim asked this question but did not get a clear answer. His follow-up Written Question was answered last week by the honourable Member for East Renfrewshire, who made it very clear that any company based in Northern Ireland that depends on using goods covered by this legislation that are manufactured in Great Britain will no longer be able to buy those goods from 20 January 2027 unless the GB company is prepared to go through the hassle of a separate conformity assessment and then having their goods subject to UKNI markings. This means, undoubtedly, that the supply chains of Northern Ireland will be placed in jeopardy unless businesses can find other suppliers, either in the Republic of Ireland or in the European Union.

I ask the Minister: what will a GB business that currently supplies these goods to Northern Ireland need to do to get its EU conformity checked and secure a UKNI label so that the product can continue to be sold in Northern Ireland from 20 January 2027? It needs to be making those preparations now. We still have not had any answer from any Minister on that issue. What will be the cost to that business of applying for the tests, being tested and then getting the UKNI marking? Again, we have had nothing about cost.

The Minister in the other place was very clear that the Government intend to subject GB to the same EU law as will come into force in Northern Ireland in January 2027, but can the Minister finally explain what happens between 20 January 2027 and whenever the comparable GB legislation comes into effect? That is going to be crucial for Northern Ireland businesses. When, realistically, do the Government imagine that the same legislation will come into effect in GB? Will the relevant products made in GB still need UKNI markings if sold in Northern Ireland, even after GB law aligns with the EU? That is a very important question.

Once again, Northern Ireland is being sacrificed by the Government, who are not prepared to stand up to the European Union and who are dividing our country once again. I beg to move my amendment.

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[Baroness Hoey (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I thank all the noble Lords who have spoken, particularly my colleagues from Northern Ireland. The noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, tends to come in on all these SIs and support the Windsor Framework, but does not really seem to take a detailed interest in what businesses are thinking about this.

Generally, I hope the Minister has realised that this is a complex and difficult issue and that the Government have not provided the detailed information for businesses that they could have. Businesses have only a few months before they have to implement, and we are still very unclear about the marking situation. The Minister says that UK(NI) marking will not always be necessary, so how are we supposed to know when it is and when it is not? These are the kind of details that small businesses in particular, which depend on their relationship with GB, will find extremely difficult. None of the detailed questions that noble Lords asked has really been answered, so after the Minister has looked through what was said in Hansard, perhaps we will get a more detailed response, because those questions will come up over and over again until we get real answers and businesses have some certainty.

I welcome the response from the noble Baroness from the Liberal Democrats and some of the questions she asked, as I did the Front-Bench spokesman from the Conservatives. Interestingly, the Conservatives in the other place voted against this statutory instrument, and I welcome that. I am feeling hopeful because, every time we have SIs—the noble Lord, Lord Empey, said that we are going to have a lot more—we seem to get more support, but I am on my best behaviour tonight. I said to the Chief Whip that I would not call a Division and that I would stick to my six minutes, as I think I did. I also know that Members are very interested in what is happening—or is not happening—at Downing Street.

With that, I hope that everyone realises that this will not go away. We will be back, time and again, until this House and the Government recognise that, whatever the reasons for signing up to the protocol and the Windsor Framework, they are not working and this is not sustainable. We will keep coming back until the Government recognise that, as both opposition parties and reform parties seem to be beginning to recognise. I therefore withdraw my amendment.

Amendment to the Motion withdrawn.