Oral Answers to Questions

Angus Brendan MacNeil Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will appreciate that I cannot confirm the exact date at this point, but we have introduced the Bill and he can be reassured that the Government are committed to resolving the problems with the protocol, restoring the primacy of the Belfast/Good Friday agreement and restoring sovereignty and territorial integrity for the whole United Kingdom. It is imperative that we ensure that people in Northern Ireland have the same benefits, laws and courts as everybody everywhere else in the United Kingdom. I have been very clear that, as part of that, we want to ensure that we deliver strand 1, which means the reformation of the Northern Ireland Executive as soon as possible.

[Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)]

Even a fool now knows that Brexit has damaged UK trade and GDP, but do the Government have any assessment of the GDP gain and the benefit to business that the protocol has given Northern Ireland, especially as it is the only part of the UK outside London to record growth, and the only part of the UK inside the single market? It is no coincidence that it has seen growth.

[Brandon Lewis]

I am sure that if the hon. Gentleman does a bit of research, he will see that it is actually quite a complicated picture. It is good to see Northern Ireland growing back quickly: with a larger proportion of the economy in Northern Ireland based on the public sector, and with the phenomenal support that the Chancellor has put in, that is to be welcomed. We want to see Northern Ireland’s economy growing; it was struggling before covid. We are making sure to put that support in, but I have to say that that would be even easier were it not for the protocol, which is preventing some of the Chancellor’s measures from benefiting the people of Northern Ireland.

European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill

Angus Brendan MacNeil Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee: 2nd sitting: House of Commons & Committee: 2nd sitting
Wednesday 8th January 2020 Commons Chamber

That consent came from this House. The reason clause 38 is so important is that a different period is about to commence. Since 1972, all the way up to 2019, Parliament has consented to the rule-making powers and machinery of the European Union through the European Communities Act. Once we are out of the implementation period, all the rules that affect the people we govern will be made in this House. We will make promises when we stand for election; we will implement them to the best of our abilities; and then we will stand on that record. Every point is subsidiary to that. Everything we have heard about future trade deals will follow on from the principle of sovereignty and the direct democratic accountability that happens in this House when we stand for election, when we speak and when we return. That will not be the case, however, during the implementation period.

[Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)]

I ask the hon. Gentleman to imagine a scenario in which the United Kingdom has a trade deal with America and this Parliament decides that it is going to say no to genetically modified or hormone-treated beef. How free and how sovereign does he think this Parliament will be in such a scenario? It will not be.

[Robert Courts]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, because he illustrates precisely the point I am trying to make, which is about the nature of sovereignty. Sovereignty is held in this place, which makes the law and is the superior governing body. If there is a trade deal with the United States, the electorate will have a chance at the next election to have their say on whether they agree with it. If the hon. Gentleman’s or any other party wishes to change it, they can say so in their manifesto and stand for election accordingly. If elected, they will be able to enter negotiations to change it.

[Angus Brendan MacNeil]

The hon. Gentleman is being very generous in giving way; I am grateful to him. Of course, a trade agreement requires a dispute resolution mechanism, and we currently have the European Court of Justice. When and if there is a trade deal with America, the dispute resolution mechanism will give away sovereignty and we will be back to square one.

[Robert Courts]

No, that is a misunderstanding of the nature of a trade dispute body. Every treaty has to have some sort of dispute resolution—the hon. Gentleman is quite right about that. If there is a trade deal with the United States or any other body, there will of course be a trade dispute resolution, but it will adjudicate on the terms of the agreement approved in this House. The major difference with the ECJ is the one to which I have already referred: its judicial activism. It creates law that is over and above and has to be applied by this House, whereas when law is made by our domestic judges, this House can enact legislation to override it.

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Angus Brendan MacNeil Excerpts

Tuesday 5th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Stella Creasy]

I thank the hon. Lady for her question and absolutely wish to take up the challenge that she presents, because I completely respect the point of view that she puts forward. Let me therefore make some progress and set out precisely what we are proposing.

The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 puts abortion in the same category as homicide, destroying or damaging a building with the use of gunpowder with the intent to murder, child stealing, rape, and defilement of women. Abortion might be the most common procedure that our constituents who are women of reproductive age undergo, but even today, in 2018, we do not let them make the choice themselves to have that procedure.

We would like to repeal sections 58 and 59 of OAPA. Letting sections 58 and 59 stay on the statute book does not address many of the challenges that we see today in abortion provision. For example, extending the Abortion Act 1967 does not address the impact of the pills I mentioned, or indeed the paternalism that says women are not to be trusted to make choices about their bodies.

I also want to be clear about what we are not doing in repealing those sections of OAPA. This is not an attempt to remove the criminal charges that come after 24 weeks —let me make that explicitly clear, because I have seen briefings from some anti-choice organisations that suggest otherwise. We are not intending to amend or repeal the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, which covers and still has the power to criminalise abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Decriminalising abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy would mean that the Abortion Act 1967 became redundant before 24 weeks of pregnancy. As abortion before 24 weeks of pregnancy would no longer be a crime, we would no longer need the 1967 Act to act as a defence for women who had sought such an abortion. However, the exemptions that the 1967 Act provides for termination post 24 weeks would remain, and the 1967 Act would provide exemptions to prosecution under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act—for example, in cases of severe foetal abnormality or where the mother’s life is at risk. That might seem complicated, so let me put it as simply as possible: the time limit would not change, nor would the important role of medics in this matter.

I respect and recognise that some people do not consider abortion a human right and so think a criminal approach is the right response. I recognise that for many more, it is not that that worries them, but the constitutional issues at stake. Even though the Good Friday agreement explicitly retained human rights responsibilities for this place, let me reassure those MPs who want to uphold the role of devolved Assemblies that repealing OAPA would not write a particular abortion law for anyone, but would require them to act. This proposal would respect devolution; it would not reject it.

[Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)]

I just want to be absolutely clear. I think the hon. Lady is suggesting that Northern Ireland has UK abortion at 24 weeks, not Republic of Ireland abortion at 12 weeks. Is that correct?

[Stella Creasy]

Let me reassure the hon. Gentleman: I am not proposing any particular law. What we are talking about is repealing the existing UK legislation that requires Northern Ireland law to act in a certain way. Doing so, unlike imposing a referendum or extending the 1967 Act, would be in line with our human rights responsibilities, which is why the United Nations has asked us to do this, and it would not impose a specific outcome on Northern Ireland.

--- Later in debate ---

[Catherine West (Hornsey and Wood Green) (Lab)]

For a very long time, in many societies and in many cultures, the state and organised religion have had a stranglehold over the lives of women. That was why it was so pleasing to see the landslide vote to repeal the eighth amendment in the Republic of Ireland. Women in Northern Ireland will soon be the only women in the UK and Ireland who cannot gain safe access to abortion. We know that hundreds of women in Northern Ireland either travel or take risks with their own health to have a termination. We cannot stand by here while women and girls in any part of the UK are criminalised or put at risk for accessing basic healthcare.

[Angus Brendan MacNeil]

The hon. Lady alluded to the stranglehold that the state can have over people’s lives, and one of the biggest strangleholds that the state currently has over people’s lives in the UK is the reprehensible two-child policy. That policy should be changed to make sure that, when people have more than two children, they do indeed have the children’s allowance to help and support them with those children.

[Catherine West]

The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. I was certainly in the Lobby when we failed to support that particular proposal.

It is high time that the House took action to end the treatment of Northern Irish women as second-class citizens. Let us look at the man, Leo Varadkar, who welcomed the resounding yes vote by saying that Ireland will no longer say to women, “Take the boat,” or, “Take the plane,” when they need an abortion. Instead, he said that Ireland will say, “Take our hand.” Is it not now time for us to offer our hand to the women of Northern Ireland and end the ban on abortion in Northern Ireland?

Corporation Tax (Northern Ireland) Bill

Angus Brendan MacNeil Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lewis]

We believe that Northern Ireland has special circumstances—a land border with the Republic of Ireland, and a society emerging from conflict—that are incredibly important in this context.

[Mr Angus Brendan MacNeil (Na h-Eileanan an Iar) (SNP)]

I welcome this measure for Northern Ireland, and I think that it will inevitably come to Scotland when we have a large Scottish National party group in Westminster. The argument about the land border is a strange one, because there are many places on land borders that have different rates of corporation tax. Logically, that could lead to a situation in which corporation tax was set island-wide in Dublin. I would not like to see such a situation, but that is the logic of the argument about the land border.

[Mr Lewis]

The hon. Gentleman’s party has long advocated the devolution of corporation taxes in Scotland, but the fact is that it did not push very assertively for that during the Smith commission negotiations. Equally, Scotland has enough to do getting on with the very considerable devolution package on which there is tremendous consensus.

The point I want to make to both hon. Gentlemen is that the idea that the devolution of corporation tax is a panacea is a fundamental mistake. I will develop that argument further; astonishingly, it was noticeably absent from the Secretary of State’s speech. The PricewaterhouseCoopers report “Corporation Tax—Game changer or game over?” found that the devolution of corporation tax would be “no magic bullet” for Northern Ireland. It concluded that there was

“no evidence that the Republic of Ireland’s low Corporation Tax, by itself, attracted the high levels of foreign direct investment…that fuelled the Celtic Tiger economy.”

When the Secretary of State did a lap of honour and a hastily arranged photo opportunity in Lisburn earlier this month, she failed to address a number of issues—she has repeated that failure today—that her successor and those on the Treasury Bench will not be able to duck. Any responsible Westminster Government and Northern Ireland Executive will have to address these issues before 2017.

First, the current Government’s commitment to the final transfer of powers is highly conditional. The agreement states:

“The powers will only be commenced from April 2017, subject to the Executive demonstrating that its finances are on a sustainable footing for the long term including successfully implementing measures in this agreement and subsequent reform measures.”

Sometimes, the Secretary of State does not emphasise that high level of conditionality.

Secondly, should Northern Ireland reduce its corporation tax rate to that of the Republic of Ireland, it would lose at least £300 million from its block grant. Budgets would have to be cut. In the awful event of the Tories being re-elected, that £300 million cut would increase substantially as a result of the promised return to 1930s levels of public expenditure.

Thirdly, slashing and burning the state, rather than having a long-term plan to rebalance the economy, is opposed by all Northern Ireland’s parties. Fourthly, severe cuts to school, further education, higher education and adult skills budgets, as well as reduced funding for infrastructure, would moderate the potential benefits of reduced corporation tax. It is investment in skills and infrastructure that will make the biggest difference to private sector jobs and growth, alongside corporation tax devolution.

Fifthly, the Secretary of State has failed to acknowledge the plain truth that significant reductions in corporation tax must be used to stimulate investment, not to inflate excess profits or pay at the top. As my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition said on his visit last week, Northern Ireland faces no greater challenge than inequality. My party is seeking to address that through the independent Heenan-Anderson commission, which is attracting much support and interest in Northern Ireland.

The cost of living crisis has hit Northern Ireland’s families hard. Northern Ireland consistently records the lowest rates of private sector pay in the UK. One in six workers are classed as low paid and a quarter earn less than the living wage. Wages have fallen by £1,683 a year since 2010. One in five children in Northern Ireland live in poverty. Northern Ireland continues to have the highest claimant count of any region in the UK—at 5.7%, it is double the UK rate.

Unless this legislation is carefully managed to ensure that it does not benefit only those at the top, it will not only fail to enhance growth, but perpetuate the horrendous inequality that is leaving too many people in Northern Ireland at the margins of the economy and of their communities. It will also be important, as the hon. Member for South Down (Ms Ritchie) said, to ensure that the whole of Northern Ireland benefits from the legislation—not just Belfast, but Derry/Londonderry, Strabane, Portadown and Newry.

Finally, it would be the ultimate folly if in 2017, as Northern Ireland was preparing to align its levels of corporation tax with the Republic of Ireland, the UK was exiting the European Union. No part of the UK would suffer more than Northern Ireland from the inevitable impact on economic co-operation between the north and the south.

We will enable the passage of the Bill in a spirit of transparency about the potential gains, but with an awareness of the risks. Not only is that the responsible stance for a party that seeks to govern the country in four months’ time; it is right because we have a duty to be honest with the people of Northern Ireland about the difficult choices that lie ahead. The Executive are right to make private sector jobs and growth top priorities as they strive to build a better shared future, but they are also right to reject the slash-and-burn approach to the state that is being pursued with such relish by this unfair and incompetent Tory-led Government.

An incoming Labour Government will not only balance the books in a responsible way, but work with the Northern Ireland Executive to pursue an active industrial strategy that will boost private sector jobs and growth, while tackling the chronic worklessness and poverty of those at the margins of the economy and society in Northern Ireland. We will transform the economic pact between Westminster and the Executive by setting goals to expand the creative industries and other sectors that build on Northern Ireland’s strengths. A shared aim should be to encourage young people who go away to study and travel to return home to Northern Ireland when they are ready to settle down. That will be possible only through the creation of well-paid, high-skilled jobs.

The Bill opens up new opportunities for Northern Ireland, but it will require political leaders to make difficult choices and to ensure that the potential gains benefit the many and not the few. As I have said, the devolution of corporation tax is not a panacea, but if handled properly, it could be part of a new economy that works for working people and leaves far fewer people behind. Ultimately, that is how the Bill will be judged.