Speeches by Robinson.

“I know it is not a game. But if you are going to sit there and criticise how other Governments acted, and how we have to suffer greater interventions because of how they acted compared with how you wish to be, I am reminding you that it is our customers, consumers and constituents who have to feel the brunt of those de…”

“But it is our businesses, consumers and citizens that have to suffer the consequences of whatever political game goes on between London and Brussels—whatever Government; whatever game.”

“There are two things on that, Secretary of State. First, you would have to acknowledge that when you backed the “Safeguarding the Union” document, you acknowledged that there was a commitment there to remove checks within the UK internal market system—say for criminality, smuggling or that sort of thing. Secondly, sinc…”

“Shortly thereafter, okay. Intertrade UK is a body to promote intertrade or intra-trade—trade within the UK—but it is also supposed to be a receptacle for businesses that have genuine frustrations and allow them to bring those to a body that can conduct advocacy on their behalf. Secretary of State, are you engaging with…”

“Okay, so it should be in your inbox in the next couple of weeks. What are the plans for publication?”

“You will know that one of the reasons we pushed for the establishment of the Independent Monitoring Panel was to provide an evidential base and to be able to make rigorous arguments when restrictions are wholly unnecessary and disproportionate. Our intention had been that that evidence base would therefore be available…”

“Patently not, but it can be so convoluted, complex and unnecessarily burdensome that businesses look elsewhere. When we talk about the internal market guarantee, we want it to mean something. When people talk about the UK internal market, people seem to struggle or to be unable to realise that a marketplace is somewher…”

“There is an overarching principle that there should be no divergence of trade going back to the protocol, Windsor framework and subsequent agreements. A number of businesses are being encouraged to change their supply lines and find it easier to deal with a foreign economic entity in the Republic of Ireland. That is a …”

“Secretary of State, you just mentioned that businesses are good at working out what works for them. Is that within or outwith the context of no divergence of trade?”

“Okay. I am sure that you are grateful for Ms Johnson’s presence, Secretary of State.”

“If you need to write to us in formal terms, that is fine. What process do you or the Paymaster General engage in when deciding what EU Acts are brought before the Assembly and before the Joint Committee?”

“The question was whether you agree or disagree with the point in Lord Murphy’s review about the ineffectiveness of the democratic scrutiny.”

“I didn’t disagree with that, but you were disagreeing with Lord Murphy’s review point. That was my question.”

“And I would argue that none of that would have happened had we not pulled the brake.”

“With respect, Secretary of State, it is not a matter entirely for them, because these democratic scrutiny structures were set up to engage that body politic, so that the democratically elected representatives of Northern Ireland have a role and a say in this. Your failure to engage with them is a separate one. Lord Mur…”

“The question is whether, once you have made that conclusion in your own mind, having consulted your own colleagues, you see fit that there should be a democratic role for the Northern Ireland Assembly and its democratically elected Members, all of whom are perfectly capable of understanding the sort of thought process …”

“The question is: of the five, three were not put through the Northern Ireland Assembly. No applicability motion was sought. Why?”

“One was on geographical indicators, one was on Ukraine-Moldova, and the other was, from memory—Fleur knows better than me—[Interruption.] Critical raw materials. I didn’t do too badly from the top of my head.”

“Three specifically were accepted and added to the Windsor framework by the UK Government through the Joint Committee without any recourse or a request for an applicability motion.”

“Thank you for that. In fairness, I asked the question because I think it illustrates that when we hear in the round that you are driven by trying to provide practical solutions to practical problems, those solutions can be intractable to find. At the very get-go, there is normally a rejection of the problem in the firs…”