Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 15 February 2021 to Question 149789 on Post Office: Subsidies, whether EU state aid rules do not apply to lockdown grants announced on 5 January 2021.

EU State aid rules no longer apply to subsidies granted from 1st January 2021 in the UK. The only exception is aid within scope of the Withdrawal Agreement, specifically Article 10 of the Northern Ireland Protocol which applies to measures affecting trade in goods and wholesale electricity markets between Northern Ireland and the EU, and Article 138 in relation to aid for EU programmes and activities within the Multiannual Financial Framework.