Radio Equipment (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2025

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Thursday 20th November 2025 Lords Chamber

The House is free to reject this amendment. It would be tempting to see how many people would vote in favour of it. We are not suggesting doing that this afternoon, but there will come a point when we have to test whether your Lordships, and democrats generally across the United Kingdom, are prepared to put up with this totally unsatisfactory position. All democrats—unionists, nationalists and non-aligned in Northern Ireland—should be standing up and saying, “As a self-respecting elected representative, I want to make the laws for the people I represent and not delegate that to someone else”.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare two interests. I am a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee, which considered this statutory instrument, and a member of the Government’s Veterinary Medicine Working Group. This is important because those interests are relevant to the general debate on the Windsor Framework. I welcome my noble friend the Minister to this debate and to the ongoing issue of the Windsor Framework.

I acknowledge the regret amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, but that does not mean that I agree with it. I am a firm supporter of the Windsor Framework. I believe we should seek to get back into the European Union because that is the best way to represent our interests. We should be working towards dual market access—not decrying dual market access but actively supporting businesses that are seeking to achieve the benefits of dual market access, not only for their businesses but for the wider community in Northern Ireland.

I remind noble Lords that the root cause of the problem is Brexit. Various events over the past 17 years have undermined the UK economy. We had the economic crash in 2008, which impacted many global economies. We had Brexit in 2016. We had Covid-19 and all the payments for that. Then we had the money to invest in defence for Ukraine and in defence of democracy, and to build up resilience against other powers, such as Russia.

In this instance, Brexit ushered in the Northern Ireland protocol and then the Windsor Framework to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. I personally do not have a problem with that, as we argued back in 2016 that special arrangements were required on the island of Ireland, where two jurisdictions and two systems would apply. Hence, we have the UK internal market and EU single market. I make a plea that politicians of whatever hue should be encouraging people and businesses to avail themselves of dual market access, and it is wrong to decry them. I remind those who argued for the hardest form of Brexit, either in this House or in the other place, that in some ways we are paying for the consequences of that.

It was remarked on that our committee did not receive any submissions or comments relating to the Windsor Framework for this statutory instrument. That was a surprise, because we have received voluminous comments for other statutory instruments related to the framework. Also, the Government have undertaken stakeholder engagement with a cross-representation of stakeholders, including industry, trade associations and other government departments with an interest. Like my noble friend the Minister said, it will be subject to further review as part of the radio equipment directive provisions in Northern Ireland. I hope that that will prove productive.

[Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown (DUP)]

At the commencement of her address to the Chamber, the noble Baroness said that she was a member of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee. I noticed that its 39th report said, at paragraph 35, that the Department for Business and Trade

“therefore does not anticipate ‘any significant impacts’ on the supply of relevant products from Great Britain to NI”.

If the reality turns out to be that there is a significant impact, could the noble Baroness, who supports the Windsor Framework, tell us how it could be rectified?

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his intervention. I sincerely hope that there are no particular difficulties, but if there are any hiccups in the situation, I hope that, as part of that, the challenges and the operational difficulties that have presented themselves over the last number of months can be ironed out, and that we have a listening Government who will do everything within their power, working with the EU, to ensure that that is the case.

I will move on to what else I want to say. Undoubtedly, we need to resolve the challenges, the delays, and businesses’ lack of knowledge around the Windsor Framework. Therefore, I ask my noble friend the Minister to outline when we will receive the responses to the following reports, which highlighted those operational difficulties and challenges, and the lack of knowledge for businesses operating within the Windsor Framework. Those reports are: the independent monitoring report, published two weeks ago; my noble friend Lord Murphy’s independent review, published in September; and the report of our Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee, of which I, the noble Baroness, Lady Foster, and the noble Lord, Lord Dodds, are members. We discussed those issues yesterday. When will the Government respond to those three reports, which all highlighted the need for a resolution to the operational difficulties? If operational difficulties and challenges exist for businesses, they should be resolved. To go back to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord McCrea, I imagine that is probably what he is referring to, rather than an outright rejection of the Windsor Framework.

Furthermore, as the noble Lord, Lord Dodds, has said, we also need answers on CBAM, and we need clarification. What will this mean for people’s electricity supply, taking on board that we have a single electricity market on the island of Ireland? We need to know what framework will be operational from 1 January 2026. What discussions have taken place with the EU regarding those interim arrangements for Northern Ireland? I have spoken with representatives from Manufacturing NI, and they have told me that they have had no discussions with the Government since November 2024. I say gently to my noble friend the Minister on the Front Bench that this needs to be resolved quickly. I urge him to work with his ministerial colleagues in the department responsible to resolve these issues and to provide clarity and clarification for businesses and all those involved in manufacturing.

Finally, reference has been made to veterinary medicines and the ongoing difficulties and challenges there. We need a resolution to those issues, which are largely of a market and regulatory nature, and we need to know how many authorisations will be available and how many—because of pack size—will not. We need clear, professional guidance to be issued urgently and communicated to veterinarians and farmers in Northern Ireland. I understand that the BVA and NOAH would be willing to help with this, but we need that briefing in relation to the veterinary medicines directive to go directly to veterinarians, the BVA and farmers. We also need an industry-level co-ordination group to be established to share confidential, category-level supply risk signals, because much of this information, as I know from the Veterinary Medicines Working Group, is confidential and commercial in confidence. It should also be able to agree clinical fallback pathways for when authorised products are unavailable and be able to use the two systems that, thankfully, the Government have brought forward, and co-ordinate communication to vets, SQPs—or suitably qualified persons—and probably agricultural merchants, practices and producers.

I urge the Minister to obtain clarity on those various areas as they relate to the operational challenges and difficulties faced by those who have to work under the auspices of the Windsor Framework. For clarity, I support the Windsor Framework; I would like to see a route back to the European Union, because I believe in full democratic accountability. That can be achieved only through that mechanism and not by decrying the Windsor Framework, because that simply, in many ways, is a denial of democracy, when people argued for the hardest possible Brexit.

[Lord Morrow (DUP)]

My Lords, I have been provoked to respond to what the noble Baroness, Lady Ritchie, has said. I had some difficulty in following her, but that might be more my fault than hers—I think it is not, but that is by the way. She went on at some length about the dual membership. Let me very clear to your Lordships’ House today: there are no tangible benefits from dual membership. What we are getting is unfettered access to the Republic of Ireland—our smallest market—in return for fettered access to our greatest market; namely, GB. I hope that your Lordships’ House, particularly the Minister, will keep that in mind. I am sure he is listening, and I know that the noble Baroness beside him always listens to what we are saying—she might not always agree, but she certainly always listens, and we commend her for that.

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My noble friend Lady Ritchie also asked about the Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee on the Windsor Framework. The Government will carefully consider its report. It raises important issues which the Government take seriously, including how we can best support businesses to navigate the Windsor Framework.

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Lab)]

I exhort my noble friend the Minister to implore his colleagues to provide speedy, expeditious responses to those reports, because they are vital in addressing the operational issues and challenges of the Windsor Framework.

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that. I am sure that, as a former Minister, she will know that we will try our best to get that done swiftly. Further to her question on the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism, CBAM, we have always been clear that we will apply the UK’s CBAM across the UK, including in Northern Ireland, and that the EU’s CBAM does not apply to Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee yesterday wrote to the Government on this issue and we will respond in the usual way.

My noble friend Lady Ritchie and the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, also asked about veterinary measures. The vast majority of veterinary medicine will remain available in Northern Ireland from 1 January. The Government continue to engage extensively with industry and have announced two new schemes to support supply to Northern Ireland.

I come now to the question posed by the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, on impact assessments. An impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument, as measures resulting from the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 are out of scope for assessment. However, my officials have engaged in discussions with a range of industry stakeholders and government departments on Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2022/30 and have not identified any significant impacts or concerns for this instrument. We therefore expect limited impacts, if any, on the supply of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

As I have set out, this instrument ensures effective implementation in Northern Ireland of Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2022/30, which applies additional essential requirements for manufacturers of certain radio equipment and enables them to be enforced. As a former businessperson, I am constantly encouraging my colleagues at the Department for Business and Trade to engage regularly with micro and small businesses. The Government are committed to engaging and supporting all businesses, not only in Great Britain but across Northern Ireland.

Many businesses have already prepared to comply with these new essential requirements, which came into force on 1 August this year, in order to continue to supply the EU. My officials have not identified significant impacts on this instrument in discussions with industry stakeholders, including trade associations. This is because many businesses have already adapted to these new requirements. We therefore expect the impact on the flow of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to be very limited.

This instrument ensures our compliance with international law in relation to Northern Ireland’s continuing dual access. I am therefore pleased to commend this statutory instrument to the House.