I am delighted the Government has now reached an agreement with the EU over the borders checks in Northern Ireland. As a result, Clauses 44, 45, 47 have now been withdrawn from the UK Internal Market Bill.
I would like to take this opportunity to explain why I supported these clauses in the vote on Monday. In the event of EU trade negotiations failing, Northern Ireland might have been effectively blocked from accessing food in a timely way from the rest of the UK. Clauses 42, 43 and 45 were a legal safety net to protect the integrity of the UK’s internal market by ensuring Northern Ireland would continue to have unfettered access to the UK.
I am pleased we now have an agreement on border checks in Northern Ireland and no longer require this legal safety net. This vital agreement means businesses across the country can continue to trade freely and seamlessly across our four home nations, as they have done for hundreds of years.
