Jim Allister MP: speeches

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Speeches

29 Jan 2025 · Draft Gambling Act 2005 (Operating Licence Conditions) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 Draft Gambling Levy Regulations 2025 · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to serve under you, Mr Twigg. Could I take this opportunity to draw attention to a conundrum that exists in my part of the United Kingdom? Any company in Northern Ireland that wishes to advertise online gambling needs a licence from the Gambling Commission. None the less, the Gambling Commission insists that it should not perform any regulatory function in Northern Ireland. In consequence, there is no regulatory function and no control of online gambling, which is a growth industry. However, it has been established that Northern Ireland has an above average problem with gambling. It could be said that gambling is a devolved matter; indeed, to the extent that I have set out, it is. However, the Northern Ireland Executive have utterly failed to establish any regulatory control, and the present legislation allows regulation only of terrestrial gambling, not of online gambling. I therefore ask the Minister to impress on the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland the fact that it needs to get up to speed and to bring in regulation to control online gambling and terrestrial gambling. Yesterday, in this vacuum of no regulation and no oversight, the Northern Ireland Assembly increased some maximum stakes. That is untenable.
29 Jan 2025 · Engagements · Hansard source
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Q15. Given the strategic commitment to Irish unity in the programme for government of the new Government in Dublin, may I ask the Prime Minister whether he and his Government have a strategic and economic interest in retaining Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom? If they do, why then is he continuing with the system whereby, in over 300 areas of law in the economic sphere, Northern Ireland is subject not to UK law, but to the same laws that apply in the Irish Republic—laws that we do not make and cannot change?
28 Jan 2025 · Support for Female Offenders · Hansard source
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The Minister refers to keeping under review the question of placing biological men in women’s prisons. Will he speak to the Justice Minister in Northern Ireland and ensure that she reviews that policy? Only last week she was defending the very policy that puts women at risk from biological men who are claiming the right to be retained in women’s prisons.
28 Jan 2025 · Extremism Review · Hansard source
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I trust the Minister will agree that terrorism in all its forms is always deserving only of punishment and repudiation, never of glorification, particularly by political leaders. Does he therefore agree that it is beyond reprehensible that the First Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, continues to attend IRA celebrations of the actions of IRA terrorists? Just before Christmas, she laid a wreath and spoke at the commemoration for three IRA terrorists who blew themselves up with their own bomb. What message does that send on extremism to future generations?
28 Jan 2025 · Defence Procurement: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises · Hansard source
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It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer, and I commend the hon. Member for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor (Alan Strickland) for bringing this matter to the House. As has already been referred to, Northern Ireland has a rich history in defence and in the production necessary to maintain defence. That is true in the large business sector where, for example, we have Thales, which of course has led the way in next-generation defence equipment. The primary thing I will say to the Minister today, however, is that we also have a great layer of SMEs under that in Northern Ireland that are not getting a fair crack of the whip when it comes to MOD procurement. I say that on the strength of evidence given to a parliamentary inquiry by ADS Group—the trade association. It set out some very stark figures for 2022-23, the most recent year for which we have relevant data, that said that all the Government contracts to Northern Ireland SMEs in that year amounted to a paltry £2 million. For Scotland, the figure was £29 million and for the much-favoured south-west of England, the figure was £408 million. Even though 95% of ADS Group members are SMEs, Northern Ireland SMEs got only 0.15% of MOD expenditure in 2022-23. How can that be fair? My basic appeal to the Department and to the Minister is for fairness, a level playing field and equity in the distribution of contracts. We have remarkable skills in many of our SMEs and we have many leaders in the digital and technology sector. Some of them subcontract to Thales, but all those firms have much to contribute in their own right. I say to the Minister that we must bring some equity to the situation. It can never be fair that in 2022-23, the MOD’s per capita spend on all contracts was £100 in Northern Ireland, £380 in Scotland and England, and £250 in Wales. Let us have some levelling up.
28 Jan 2025 · Gaza: Humanitarian Situation · Hansard source
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No one can gainsay the need for humanitarian aid, but looking forward to the reconstruction phase, what enforceable assurances are there that aid provided by this Government will not be diverted to rebuilding terrorist tunnels, as happened in the past? Can the Minister trust the United Nations Relief and Works Agency when it comes to that, given its record and given the suggestions that tunnels were built under its very headquarters and that there was a data centre there flowing off UNRWA’s electricity supply? Can we place trust in an organisation with such a record?
27 Jan 2025 · Creative Industries · Hansard source
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The creative industries undoubtedly make a significant contribution to our economy, but they are about much more than that. They make a broad and deep contribution to who we are, to our culture and to our nation. When it comes to economic contribution, in Northern Ireland we have a thriving creative industry in a number of spheres. Under the guidance of Northern Ireland Screen, which has as its honorary president the redoubtable Sir Kenneth Branagh, we have seen significant success in the screen industry and many successful productions, none more so than “Game of Thrones”. Happily, quite a bit of it was filmed in my constituency of North Antrim, at the famous dark hedges—where, sadly, on Friday we lost four of the large trees in the storm—and at Ballintoy harbour, among other places. We are appreciative of that economic contribution, which does not end with the creative industries but creates, in the very names I mentioned, an advantageous spin-off in tourism. Many tourists come to North Antrim to see the dark hedges, and many tourists visit various filming locations. We are happy to have had that benefit in Northern Ireland. Of course, we also have the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), who is, in a manner of speaking, a creative industry in himself. There is no more creative Member of this House when it comes to finding an intervention in each and every debate.
27 Jan 2025 · Creative Industries · Hansard source
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He is suddenly silent, thankfully. That is all very good, but the thrust of what I want to say relates to a niche sector of the creative industries: the craft sector as it applies in Northern Ireland. The sector is often made up of one-man or one-person operations, or those involving a couple of people, but cumulatively it is quite important. However, in Northern Ireland it has had a huge and debilitating problem in recent months. Historically, it has, unsurprisingly, secured much of its raw materials from Great Britain, but because Northern Ireland was left behind in the EU single market, we are now subject to the general product safety regulation. Under that regulation, there are inhibitions on imports of the raw materials and goods necessary for the craft industry, as well as others. Bigger sectors can more easily withstand that, but smaller sectors cannot. What is happening is that suppliers in GB are simply stopping supplying, because the bureaucracy of the GPSR is such that a business cannot supply into the EU market—and therefore, sadly, into a part of the United Kingdom, namely Northern Ireland—unless it has a person living within that perceived EU territory who is its “responsible person”. A business in Great Britain that wants to supply basic elements into the craft sector or some other sector in Northern Ireland has to pay to have someone in place in Northern Ireland. More than that, among the other requirements of the GPSR, that seller from GB needs to put labels on every product with the contact information of the responsible person and the contact information of the manufacturer—this is all about the internal market of our own country—and the responsible person’s name and contact details, including their postal and electronic addresses, need to be displayed in online listings. With that burden on suppliers, it is no surprise that, where the market for the product is small, they simply say, “It’s not worth the effort. We will stop supplying.” The loser in that is the Northern Ireland craft sector. It has got to the ridiculous stage where some online retailers, such as Folksy, advise sellers that “the UK now excludes Northern Ireland”. That is a quote—the United Kingdom “now excludes Northern Ireland”. “Europe,” it says, “has become EU & Northern Ireland”. Amazon states on its seller website that “from December 13, 2024”—that is when the regulation came in— “Responsible Person requirements will apply to most non-food consumer products offered for sale in the EU and Northern Ireland, under the…GPSR”, and it tells its GB sellers that they must meet all the requirements I have just cited, including the labels saying who the responsible person is, how they can be contacted, who the product came from, and so on. Unsurprisingly, that is crippling the craft market in Northern Ireland. Bizarrely, it has got to the point where we are told that it includes digital downloads. A lady called Alison Evans, who runs Zanycraftsuk, has been told that even digital downloads of knitting patterns are covered by the new regulations of the Irish sea border. Think of it: the EU single market is so fragile that it cannot withstand the downloading of a knitting pattern from Doncaster to Downpatrick. How ridiculous is that? Yet that is where we are with these regulations. The Minister told us that this Government would bulldoze barriers. Well, here is a barrier for him to bulldoze with all his might, in protection of the craft sector and other sectors in Northern Ireland. That takes me to the AI controversy. [ Interruption. ] I will be very quick. I share many of the concerns, but I want to make this point clear to the House. The Government have said that they are going to be adventurous on AI, but not for Northern Ireland, because Northern Ireland is going to be subject to the EU’s regulations of AI, which are much more restrictive. So once more, divergence is leaving us behind and a separate regime is going to be the order of the day. That is another to barrier to bulldoze, Minister.
27 Jan 2025 · Storm Éowyn · Hansard source
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I join others in expressing the appreciation of the whole community for the hard work in the most difficult circumstances of those who have been trying to reconnect us. I also join in the condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives, including the family of a young father just outside my constituency who lost his life in an incident with a generator. I know personally some of his close relatives, and the devastation is incredible. On the issue of mutual aid, which is more than welcome, can the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster tell us who pays for it, ultimately? Does the Treasury pick up the bill, or is the bill for the engineers, generators, chainsaws and all the rest of it ultimately passed to the Northern Ireland Executive, who seem to have been pretty ill-prepared given that they have had to go looking for chainsaws?
22 Jan 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Money) · Hansard source
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I agree. We all have our views on the merits of the Bill, but fundamentally we have a duty to our constituents to handle public money properly. In handling that money, we must know how much the Bill will cost. When it comes to that financial statement, it must not be fudged or opaque; it must be absolutely clear and it must—
22 Jan 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Money) · Hansard source
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There is no more important function for Members of this House than that of being the guardians of public money. It is very hard to equate the performance of that function with signing a blank cheque, and yet that is what we are being asked to do today. One thing is abundantly clear: if this Bill passes, it will bring with it a huge financial burden in perpetuity.
22 Jan 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Money) · Hansard source
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Madam Deputy Speaker, I was seeking to do that by asking the Treasury Minister to give us a comparison. What is this Bill going to cost our health service and justice system? How does that compare with what we are already spending on palliative care and suicide prevention? Those are pertinent questions and we need the answers.
22 Jan 2025 · Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill (Money) · Hansard source
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I would be happy to do so in a moment. It is quite clear that the measures will impose huge costs on the health and justice budgets. Given the provisions in the Bill, is it impossible for that not to be the consequence, so when the Treasury Minister produces the financial information, will he include current Government expenditure on palliative care and suicide prevention, so that we can look at and balance what we are spending? The Bill invites the Government to move from funding charities to prevent suicide to becoming facilitators and providers of suicide.
22 Jan 2025 · Russian Maritime Activity and UK Response · Hansard source
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It is clear that Putin is testing the west’s resolve. I welcome the rigour of the statement. The threat to our underground cables is an international issue. Does the Secretary of State agree that the United Nations response has been disappointing, and that its convention on the law of the sea is wholly inadequate to deal with such subversion and, indeed, is out of date? What steps are being taken internationally to get concerted action to protect the undersea cables on which every nation depends?
21 Jan 2025 · Armed Forces Commissioner Bill · Hansard source
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That is true. However, they failed to take the step I am now advocating of putting the veterans commissioner on a statutory footing. This Government can go one better and do the right thing for veterans, and I trust that they will. I do support new clause 2; I think it is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough. We need to offer our retired servicemen the facilities we are offering our serving servicemen.
21 Jan 2025 · Armed Forces Commissioner Bill · Hansard source
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That is a fair point. In truth, our veterans community, as they see some of their brethren facing historic investigation, align the genesis and support for that investigation with the NIO. Therefore, it certainly would be better, both in presentation and in reality, if there was that distance between the veterans commissioner and the NIO.
21 Jan 2025 · Armed Forces Commissioner Bill · Hansard source
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I will leave the two sides of the House to sort out their differences. All I am interested in is that the veterans in my community have the best opportunity and the best service. With the best will in the world, yes, we have, and have had, good veterans commissioners, but they cannot do the job so long as their hands are tied behind their backs. Let us unleash them and see a basis on which they can properly perform their functions.
21 Jan 2025 · Armed Forces Commissioner Bill · Hansard source
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If there is a failing on the Opposition Benches, then all the greater opportunity and need for the Government to make good on that. I trust that they will do that. I am not here to mediate between the two sides of this House!
21 Jan 2025 · Armed Forces Commissioner Bill · Hansard source
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I absolutely agree. It is one of the strengths of the Bill that it purports to give independence to the Armed Forces Commissioner, but that means there is all the more need for the veterans commissioner to have the same independence. All the veterans commissioner has is two staff, whom he does not choose—not that there is anything wrong with those staff; they are very good. However, they are not appointed by his office; they are hand-picked by the NIO and seconded to him. If all he has is two staff he has not chosen, it creates the wrong perception, and very often that is enough to do damage to an office. I therefore take the opportunity of this debate to say that what we are doing for the Armed Forces Commissioner is good, but let us mirror it in what we do for our veterans.
21 Jan 2025 · Armed Forces Commissioner Bill · Hansard source
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It is good to see the Armed Forces Commissioner put on a statutory basis, and to see the functions set out and see how the staff, though perhaps not directly recruited, can be provided for the commissioner. All that is good, but it causes me to ask why, if we are making that provision for the serving members of our armed forces, are we not making a parallel statutory provision for our veterans? Why is it right to have a statutory basis for the Armed Forces Commissioner, but not for the various veterans commissioners? Surely, if it is right for serving members, it must equally be right to have a statutory basis setting out the functions and ensuring staff provision for the veterans commissioners. I take the case of the part of the United Kingdom that I know best: in Northern Ireland, we have a part-time, term-appointed veterans commissioner for two days a week, effectively, with two staff seconded from the Northern Ireland Office, who is charged with looking after all the interests of the very many thousands of veterans that we unsurprisingly have in Northern Ireland. I ask again, if it is right to have a commissioner on a statutory basis for serving soldiers, why is that not the case for veterans? It would be not only a significant step forward in itself, but a significant nod to how we value our veterans community if we were to give them equality of treatment on this issue. I think that is very important. Without the role being on a statutory basis, a part-time, term-appointed veterans commissioner with seconded staff has his hands tied behind his back, frankly. In Northern Ireland, because this Government are going to repeal the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023, we are moving back into a phase where we may see many veterans from incidents 50 years ago dragged through our courts. We have a veterans commissioner with no standing to intervene in the multiple judicial reviews that take place on those issues and no standing to take any official line on any of that. If we were to put the veterans commissioner on a statutory basis, with the available funding, there would be a role to be performed—and not just on that specific issue, but perhaps if there was a challenging judicial that touched on veterans’ issues. Why should the veterans commissioner not be a notified and intervening party in such proceedings? I think he should.
21 Jan 2025 · Armed Forces Commissioner Bill · Hansard source
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It does. When a former Member of this House with Army experience, Mr Danny Kinahan, was appointed veterans commissioner, great expectations were placed on his shoulders. Sadly, as the right hon. Gentleman says, among the reasons proffered for leaving his role, Mr Kinahan stated that he felt his freedom of action was impinged on by the Northern Ireland Office. Be that right or be that wrong, the perception that such an office holder would have those restraints placed on them does untold damage to that office. As I have in the past, I pay tribute to Mr Kinahan for his service in that role. I also wish well his recently appointed successor, Mr David Johnstone, whom I had the privilege of meeting last week. I trust that as he takes forward the work of representing veterans, he will find himself unrestrained. However, this Government could put all that beyond doubt by putting the veterans commissioner on the same statutory footing as the Armed Forces Commissioner.
21 Jan 2025 · Northern Ireland’s Political Institutions · Hansard source
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Will the hon. Member give way?
21 Jan 2025 · Northern Ireland’s Political Institutions · Hansard source
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Will the Minister give way?
21 Jan 2025 · Northern Ireland’s Political Institutions · Hansard source
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The Minister talks about the Windsor framework protecting democratic standards. Surely, as the Windsor framework surrenders more than 300 areas of law, on which the decisions should be made either in this House or in the devolved Assembly at Stormont, it is the very antithesis of democracy. That is because it submits Northern Ireland’s citizens to laws that they do not make and cannot change—laws made by a foreign Parliament, rather than their own Parliament or Assembly. How does that even begin to be democratic?
21 Jan 2025 · Northern Ireland’s Political Institutions · Hansard source
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Will the hon. Member give way?

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