Hilary Benn MP: speeches

Speeches

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  The spending review gives the Northern Ireland Executive more funds to disperse as they see fit. It comes alongside the publication of the industrial strategy, the funds that the Government are making available and the £30 million that will come to Northern Ireland through UK Research and Innovation. There is funding available and there is great wealth, talent and potential in Northern Ireland to make the best use of it.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  If the right hon. Gentleman just bears with us, I hope we can see progress on that in the not-too-distant future.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman needs to keep up. I answered a parliamentary question yesterday in which I made it clear that we will deal with this issue, which arises because of the application of the Carltona principle in the Supreme Court judgment of 2020, which the last Government could not sort out in two and a half years. We will deal with it in our forthcoming legislation, and I will keep the House updated.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend will have noticed the funding made available for local growth. As part of the spending review, discussions on the fiscal framework will be taken forward by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Department of Finance, to talk about things like the Holtham review and capital borrowing by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  The answer to the right hon. Gentleman is that it is additional.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  The spending review settlement does indeed reflect the Government’s commitment to providing resources right across the United Kingdom. A year ago, people were saying there was going to be a fiscal cliff edge, but the money being made available for Northern Ireland means that no one is saying that now.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  The Government make funding available to the Northern Ireland Executive through the block grant. As the hon. Gentleman will know, it is for the Northern Ireland Executive to decide how they distribute the money between all the needs in Northern Ireland, including health, where of course there are significant pressures. The public services transformation funding that the last Government made available is now beginning to be used to reform some of the ways in which the health service works.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  I regularly meet the Northern Ireland Finance Minister to discuss funding. The Government will provide Northern Ireland with a record settlement of £19.3 billion per year on average—the largest in the history of devolution—and the Executive will also continue to receive over 24% more per person, in line with their independently assessed level of need.

• 2 Jul 2025 · Spending Review: Northern Ireland Executive · Hansard source

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  The Finucane inquiry is beginning its work. It will publish, as is normal, statements of the expenditure that it engages in. It depends how long the inquiry lasts and how much evidence is taken, but the hon. Gentleman can rest assured that he will receive an answer in due course, as that process unfolds.

• 2 Jul 2025 · A75 and A77 Roads: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  I have many and varied responsibilities, but I was not aware that the A9 was one of them. I hope that the Scottish Government will have heard my hon. Friend’s strong plea.

• 2 Jul 2025 · A75 and A77 Roads: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  The Union connectivity review recognised the importance of the A75 and A77 roads for passengers and freight between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The Government have therefore allocated up to £5 million to support a feasibility study into bypass options for the A75 and have also encouraged the Scottish Government to improve the A77.

• 2 Jul 2025 · A75 and A77 Roads: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  I echo the hon. Gentleman’s point, having driven along the road myself. My notes helpfully say that average speeds on the A75 and A77 are lower than on several other Scottish trunk roads—you can say that again. I think that the Secretary of State for Scotland has written to him and offered a meeting to discuss the issue. We all want to see the road improved.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  Once we have negotiated the legal text and put our rulebook in line with current European arrangements, there will be: no need for SPS paperwork; no mandatory identity checks or physical checks on goods moving; no need for Northern Ireland plant health labels; an end to the ban on chilled frozen meats moving; an end to the ban on movements of products of animal origin imported to GB and then moved to Northern Ireland; and no onward paperwork or checks on agrifood moved for onward processing. That is why the SPS agreement in outline has been so widely welcomed in Northern Ireland.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  It is the requirement of the Windsor framework, which the last Government negotiated, to address the basic problem of having two different systems and an open border. Everybody knows that agricultural machinery needs to be properly cleaned. If that is the case and the appropriate label, which is straightforward, is applied, there is nothing to stop the machinery moving back to Northern Ireland.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  On the agricultural machinery point that the hon. Member raises, if the machinery is coming into and staying in Northern Ireland, it can be brought in, subject to cleaning, with a plant health label that is relatively straightforward. Only if it might move into Ireland would it need to go through the red lane. I will make this general point: in 2023 Northern Ireland purchases of goods from the rest of the United Kingdom rose by 16.2%, and Northern Ireland is the fastest growing region in the UK.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  There are other small businesses that are able to trade perfectly— [ Interruption. ] The point that the hon. Gentleman needs to recognise is that if some small businesses manage to move their goods from GB to Northern Ireland, others can do so. In the end, it is a decision for an individual business where it chooses to sell its goods. It is the Windsor framework that applies now, not the Northern Ireland protocol, and I think he will accept that the Windsor framework represents a significant improvement on what was there before.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  I was interested by that observation in the FSB report because, as the House will testify, I spend a lot of my time extolling the virtues of the dual market access that Northern Ireland has as a result of the Windsor framework. I meet companies as I travel around Northern Ireland who tell me about the benefits of it that they are feeling. I think we all have a responsibility to extol the virtues of dual market access because, in my experience, if businesses can see an opportunity that allows them to sell more products, they will seize it with both hands.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  We will continue to consult as widely as possible in taking forward the agreement that has been reached and outlined with the European Union. There is help available for small businesses. It is important that it is as effective and easy to understand for those who seek to trade. I will look carefully at the report that the FSB has produced.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  Goods flow freely from Northern Ireland to the rest of the United Kingdom. Further, one of the great advantages of the trade agreements that have been negotiated with India, the United States of America and the European Union is, in the case of India, a significant reduction of tariffs on whisky, which will benefit producers in Northern Ireland, and being able to sell lamb into India. The deal with the United States of America will allow Northern Ireland farmers to sell their beef.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  The Government’s new strategic partnership with the EU will deliver a broad range of economic benefits for Northern Ireland. In particular, a new agreement on agrifood and plants will further smooth trade flows across the Irish sea, protect the UK’s internal market, reduce costs for businesses and improve consumer choice in Northern Ireland.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  It certainly would. It is a rare agreement that invites so much praise, certainly across the range of opinion in Northern Ireland. We all want to see it progress as quickly as possible, so we have got to turn it into a legal text and sort out our own legal rulebook. The benefits will then flow for businesses right across the United Kingdom.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  I can happily give my hon. Friend that assurance. He will have noticed how in another context—the trade agreement reached with the United States of America—we said that we would uphold our food standards in that agreement, and that is exactly what we have done.

• 2 Jul 2025 · EU Trade Agreement: Economic Impact · Hansard source

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  I do not accept the hon. Gentleman’s characterisation. At some point, he has to acknowledge that following our departure from the European Union—this was the issue that the previous Government had to address—the United Kingdom has one set of rules, the EU has another and there is an open border. How do we deal with that? I am afraid that on mutual enforcement, the only idea I have ever heard him put forward is not a practical proposition. He needs to take some responsibility for the consequence of his own arguments.

• 21 May 2025 · Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023: Replacement · Hansard source

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  The Government have begun the process of repealing and replacing the previous Government’s legacy Act. The draft remedial order in Parliament represents the first step. The Government will address the other issues arising from several court findings of incompatibility in primary legislation.

• 21 May 2025 · Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023: Replacement · Hansard source

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  I listen carefully to all the representations that are made to me, including in that report, which I have read. I am committed to introducing legislation as soon as possible, although that is subject to the availability of parliamentary time. This Government came into office absolutely committed to remedying the absolute failure of the Legacy Act passed by the previous Government.