European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Lord Kilclooney Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kilclooney (CB)]

My Lords, way back in the middle of the last century, I was an active member of the European Youth Campaign. In 1975, I campaigned to keep the United Kingdom in the European Economic Community. I was a Member of the European Parliament for 10 years and, for a considerable number of years following that, was in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. I was a member of the Christian Democrats, the PPE, in the Strasbourg assembly. I have visited every nation in Europe, including the Vatican. I feel European and British. But the longer I was in Strasbourg, the more I realised that the European Union was becoming a politically integrated union and not the European Economic Community that I had supported. I therefore, after much soul-searching, voted for Brexit.

The legislation is most complicated and gives the Lords the opportunity to present itself to the United Kingdom at its best. Alas, it gives those who wish to abolish the Lords a great opportunity to present the Lords at its worst. I am impressed by the maturity of approach by her Majesty’s Official Opposition.

Brexit has many challenges for those of us who live in the island of Ireland—both those in the United Kingdom and those in the Republic of Ireland. For the Republic, it will probably mean a reduction in agricultural exports to Great Britain, increased payments to the European Union budget and reduced CAP funding for its farmers. In Northern Ireland, we take no pleasure in economic problems in the south, because they would impact on us as well, and we hope that these problems can be overcome.

In Northern Ireland, it is correct that a majority voted against Brexit. It was not only Sinn Fein and the SDLP who voted in that way; the Ulster Unionist Party also campaigned to remain within the European Union. The latter has now decided to accept the referendum result and so it can now be reasonably assumed that it is a minority in Northern Ireland that still wishes to remain within the European Union.

[Noble Lords]

Oh!

[Lord Kilclooney]

Yes, that is the correct position.

In trade and business, the vast majority from Northern Ireland goes to Great Britain and only a minority across the border to the Republic, so the suggestion of a new border running down the Irish Sea would be disastrous both for Northern Ireland business and for employment. I note that this proposal has now been abandoned.

In Northern Ireland, I live near the United Kingdom border with the Republic. We welcome the objective of a soft border. We are assured that already Belfast, Dublin, London and Brussels are agreed that the common travel area will continue. Let us hear no more scaremongering, please, about passports at the border. Likewise, we are pleased that the United Kingdom will have no structural posts at the border and would like 80% of trade by small and medium-sized hauliers to be customs free.

Of course, there needs to be a similar response to this on the other side of the border. Dublin, now controlled by Brussels, has still not made known to us its ideas on trade across the border. In fairness, there is still a lack of clarity by the European Union and the United Kingdom. Yes, we welcome the agreement on a common travel area, a soft border and full support for the Belfast agreement, of which I was one of the negotiators, but what does the statement made pre-Christmas mean? It promised,

“full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which … support North-South cooperation”.

It seems to me a meaningless fudge at the present.

Clause 11 refers to our devolved institutions in the United Kingdom. Those of us from Northern Ireland will consider this closely, as we have experienced the advantages of devolution since 1921.

Northern Ireland has just experienced a record number of tourists last year, and today our unemployment level is not only smaller than that in the European Union or the Republic of Ireland but even less than that in Great Britain. I never thought I would see that day.

In particular, as farm structure and size of farms are different from those in England, we will want to ensure that after Brexit agricultural policy will be a devolved responsibility at Stormont. What will be the future of the European Union’s prestigious geographical indicators, such as Parma ham and cheddar cheese? We have an interest in this because we have two in Northern Ireland—Lough Neagh eels and Armagh Bramley apples. After Brexit, will the European Union maintain them, or will the United Kingdom take over authority for these designations?

Finally, there is not only the Irish border but the border between Gibraltar and Spain. In Northern Ireland, we have a special interest in Gibraltar, as many people were evacuated from there to Northern Ireland or born in Northern Ireland during the Second World War. I trust that the interests of Gibraltar will be upheld and that the European Union will not give Spain a veto over any final EU-UK agreement that would wreck the agreement.