Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to paragraph 16 of annex A of New Decade, New Approach, on what date the 100-day period to introduce legislation to implement the Stormont House Agreement expires.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government is committed to reforming the current legacy system in Northern Ireland in a way which provides reconciliation for victims and greater certainty for veterans. We are working across government and in the context of consultation responses to develop the Stormont House Agreement proposals, and will provide further details about this legislation as soon as we are able to.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the commitment in paragraph 16 of Annex A of New Decade, New Approach to publish legislation to implement the Stormont House Agreement, whether he plans to publish this legislation in draft.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government is committed to reforming the current legacy system in Northern Ireland in a way which provides reconciliation for victims and greater certainty for veterans. We are working across government and in the context of consultation responses to develop the Stormont House Agreement proposals, and will provide further details about this legislation as soon as we are able to.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the Government’s unilateral declaration on consent of 19 October 2019, what steps the Government has taken to establish a democratic consent process to determine the application of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland is underpinned by the right of Northern Ireland to withdraw its consent from the continued application of EU law.
The detail of this arrangement is set out in the Government’s Unilateral Declaration of 17 October 2019. This sets out that the first consent decision will be taken in the two months before the end of the first four-year period after the end of the implementation period.
If the Assembly votes by simple majority against continued alignment, then Northern Ireland’s alignment with EU law will come to an end two years later. If the Assembly votes in favour of continued alignment, then Northern Ireland’s alignment with EU law will continue.
If this decision is made on the basis of a simple majority, a further consent decision will be required within four years. If the decision is made on the basis of cross-community support, a further consent process will be required within eight years.
Arrangements for the implementation of this arrangement will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to paragraph 9 of Annex A to New Decade, New Approach, what role the UK Government has in determining the representatives of the Northern Ireland Executive that will attend meetings of the (a) UK-EU Specialised Committee and (b) Joint Committees.
Answered by Robin Walker
As set out in the New Decade, New Approach deal, the Government will ensure that representatives from the Northern Ireland Executive are invited to be part of the UK delegation in any meetings of the UK-EU Specialised or Joint Committees discussing Northern Ireland specific matters which are also being attended by the Irish Government as part of the European Union’s delegation.
The UK Government is continuing to work through the exact details of this arrangement and will work with the Northern Ireland Executive to define this in the proper way.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans the UK Government has to appoint (a) Ministers, (b) Northern Ireland Office officials and (c) Northern Ireland Civil Service officials to represent the UK on the Joint Consultative Working Group on the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Government is continuing to work through the details of how the Joint Committee and subordinate Specialised Committee on Ireland/Northern Ireland and Joint Consultative Working Group will operate. This includes the delegations at these fora.