Heating Oil Support
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Jim Allister(2 weeks, 2 days ago)
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Jim Allister
Would the fairer approach not have been to suspend the 5% VAT on home heating oil? Would that not have been fairer to everyone?
Finance (No. 2) Bill
Debate between Caroline Nokes and Jim AllisterWednesday 11th March 2026
(3 weeks ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Finance Act 2026 View all Finance Act 2026 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: Report Stage Amendments as at 11 March 2026 - (11 Mar 2026)
Jim Allister
That is a very insightful question, but the answer is even more insightful. The growth we have had in Northern Ireland is in the services sector—lo and behold, the sector that is outside the Windsor framework. The manufacturing sector, which is clobbered by the Windsor framework, has not grown. The growth we have had—and thank goodness for it—is in the services sector. Contrary to the hon. Gentleman’s mantra of believing that all things EU are precious and beneficial, that is an illustration and an indication that our liberation from the EU in terms of services has served us well, but our entrapment in the EU in respect of manufacturing has served us very ill. The Bill underwrites that disadvantage to Northern Ireland.
I say to the Minister: tell my constituents and my businesses why they are treated differently, why they are less deserving of the same capacity to be supported, why they cannot draw in the same level of venture capital or investment schemes, and why they are the second-class citizens of this United Kingdom. The answer, as I have said, is because this Government are wholly beholden to the EU. This is a Government with a reset policy. If they follow the trends of Northern Ireland, then very shortly under their reset policy, they are going to enslave themselves again to EU state aid rules; they are going to end up in the same predicament, where they will not be allowed to increase their state aid, such as they are doing here.
There is one final point that the House needs to understand. If there is a dispute over whether there has been state aid that might breach the rules of our foreign masters, it is not the courts of this land that would decide on such a matter, but the European Court of Justice. It is so obnoxious, so wrong and so offensive that, though I sit as a Member for a United Kingdom constituency and come to this Parliament of the United Kingdom, this Parliament cannot make laws governing these issues in Northern Ireland because of the surrender of sovereignty to the EU. If this Government had any backbone and cared about parity in the United Kingdom and about the businesses in my constituency, they would be setting about giving us an equal playing field and facing down those who insist that it is their laws, not ours, that must apply.