HM Government - Rt Hon James Cleverly MP, Minister of State for Europe and North America, FCDO - Written evidence (FUI0026)
13 June 2022
Dear Lord Jay
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before your Select Committee on 26 May. As you will be aware, we are introducing a Bill to Parliament today which will deal with issues caused by the Protocol, protect stability in Northern Ireland and uphold the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. We are also publishing a document setting out how our proposals on the Protocol would work. This document covers the questions we were unable to reach in the session, among other questions. I hope it is useful for your deliberations.
During the session, Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick also asked me whether any EU Member State governments had written to the Foreign Secretary over the Government’s plans to bring forward legislation in relation to the Protocol. As the Foreign Secretary said in her statement to the House on 17 May, the UK has been in discussions with the EU for 18 months to find a negotiated solution that will deliver on the objectives of the Protocol. In recent months, the Foreign Secretary and FCDO ministers have discussed our shared response to Russia/Ukraine, building closer economic and security relations as well as UK concerns with the NIP with EU Member States’ governments. Those exchanges continue.
Yours ever,
The Rt Hon. James Cleverly MP
Minister of State for Europe and North America
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)