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Batteries (Placing on the Market) (Northern Ireland) Regulations

My Lords, I express my thanks to all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate. I thank the noble Lords,

Lord Redwood, Lord Elliott, Lord Jackson, Lord Frost and Lord Blencathra, and also my noble friends Lord Browne and Lord Hay for their support.

There have, however, been two dissenting voices. I deeply appreciate where the noble Baroness, Lady Chapman, is coming from, but she acknowledged that there are additional burdens on industry through this. How many more additional burdens can industry in Northern Ireland take and be told that it must accept? There is a one-way traffic in concessions; whenever Europe asks for something, the Government surrender to its demands. I also remind her that there are many disadvantages to so-called dual-market access. For example, businesses importing steel into Northern Ireland are now paying up to 50% tariffs on categories 4 and 7 steel, because the EU tariff quotas have already been exhausted. There are problems there.

I gently remind the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Brixton, that the decision on leaving the European Union was not on what part was going to leave. It was a question for the United Kingdom as a whole. We were asked whether the United Kingdom should leave, not whether Northern Ireland or Scotland should. While there is different treatment for Northern Ireland, it is interesting that there is no different treatment for Scotland. It is demanding special treatment, but there is no such thing coming its way.

I listened very carefully to what the Minister has said. I thank her for the gracious manner in which she has dealt with this regret amendment, but I have to say to her and to the Government that that response will not do. On one level, introducing the same laws that the EU has imposed on one part of the United Kingdom in the other would remove the problem of divergence, but it would allow the EU to shame the whole United Kingdom through its strategy of divide and rule.