Jonathan Buckley
Upper Bann · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“Sinn Féin's representatives in the European Parliament voted against proposals aimed at strengthening the management of illegal immigration and facilitating the return of failed asylum applicants — those who entered countries illegally — to designated return hubs outside the European Union.”
“Last year, Sinn Féin, alongside the open-border brigade of the Alliance Party and the SDLP, voted against my motion in the Assembly that called for action to address concerns about illegal and uncontrolled immigration.”
“People want an immigration system that is controlled, credible and properly enforced whilst ensuring that the genuine, heartfelt, lived experience and concerns of local citizens are at the heart of the debate. That is not an unreasonable position to take.”
“I highlight yet another example of a political party claiming to represent the views of people across the island of Ireland yet taking a position that is fundamentally out of step with the concerns being expressed by a vast number of people across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and, indeed, the rest of the United Kingdom, and t…”
“The Minister is aware and is, in fact, on record as having suggested that organised drug crime is happening in prisons. I have previously raised that matter in the Assembly.”
“Minister, I am sure that you agree that we cannot continue to leave residents in limbo. There has to be some progress on the matter. A number of unfinished developments have been lying stagnant for a long time, but the number is so small that it would not require that great an amount of money to ensure adequate facilities for residents, e…”
The complete record
Every one of 2,272 lines we hold for Jonathan Buckley, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 19 of 46.
“I thank the Member for giving way. Will he accept that this debate is every bit as legitimate as the 10-plus non-binding private Members' motions that the Member's party has tabled during his term as leader of the Opposition?”
“I thank the Member for her original question. Whilst we know that children and parents face significant challenges in dealing with severe allergies, additional stress is also put on teaching staff who have to administer medication and, often, feel under-equipped to do so. Can the Minister outline whether those steps will include additional support for teachers, who often have to administer medication in difficult circumstances?”
“As has been said, today is a big day for our US friends, who today will see the inauguration of President Trump for his historic second term. It is a presidency that, indeed, I welcome. During the first Trump Administration, the then First Minister, Arlene Foster, and the then deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, issued an open invitation for President Trump to visit. First Minister, will that open invitation be extended again by the First Minister and deputy First Minister to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom can get the benefits of this second Trump Administration?”
“The First Minister delayed the implementation of a victims' pension scheme. The Labour Attorney General represented Mr Adams in court just last year. Could it get any more barefaced? <BR /> <BR />The Labour Party must close the loophole. It must grow a backbone, stop supporting terrorists and start supporting decent, hard-working victims in this country who have received a raw deal under Labour Governments of the past and, as it appears, of the present.”
“The Provisional IRA killed some 1,700 people across the United Kingdom, yet, under the Labour Government, Mr Adams could potentially be in line for a six-figure payout. Could it get any more grotesque? This is a man who authorised what happened to the disappeared. We have heard harrowing accounts from their family members, but the remains of Columba McVeigh, Captain Nairac and Joe Lynskey still lie in bogs and unmarked graves, with no remorse or information from Sinn Féin and, indeed, Gerry Adams. <BR /> <BR />Let us compare the Government's approach to two-tier justice and the treatment of victims of the IRA. I recently represented Alan Black, the sole survivor of the Kingsmills massacre, who had to fight for a victims' pension because it was blocked by administration. Thankfully, that was resolved.”
“Just when we thought that six months of Labour's grubby hold on power could not sink to any new depths, it did so last week. Two-tier justice is no longer just the perception of some but the reality. Through the Labour Government's removal of a section in the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 that blocked payments to terrorists, we see the potential for terrorists who were interned to be rewarded with big compensation claims because of an administrative error. <BR /> <BR />That includes Gerry Adams. Mr Adams claims that he was never a member of the IRA. I do not believe that anybody in this democratically elected forum holds that view. Mr Adams was the IRA chief of staff.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. We are now having an important and respectful debate on the subject, but, going by that theory and the statistics that he has quoted on sectors, segregation and traditional communities, many of the integrated schools that the Minister referred to yesterday would fall into those categories. They are segregated, because they do not demonstrate the diverse community that the Member claims should be the case.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. I will follow on from Mr Brooks's point about what is special about ethos. I could apply the ethos that Ms Nicholl described to many schools in my constituency. In fact, many parents choose those schools on the basis of the ethos that they provide. Does the Member accept that what he considers to be unique and special about the ethos of an integrated school is applicable to schools across many different sectors and that their representation proves that?”
“I thank the Member for giving way. Perhaps he could provide a bit more clarity. By "segregation", does he mean different sectors? As was noted in the debate yesterday — it is appropriate that we put it on record again today — so many of our schools from those different sectors have naturally integrated. In fact, as was pointed out by the Minister yesterday, they have integrated in more elaborate ways than some schools in the integrated sector.”
“Every form of poverty is a stain on any nation. Does the Minister agree that a Labour Government whose policies have made pensioners poor, made farmers poor and made businesses poor and have killed growth in the UK economy in the meantime will do absolutely nothing to create the sustainable, healthy economy that we need in order to tackle the major issues that face our society?”
“Will the Minister agree that one of the most regrettable aspects of the debate is the misrepresentation and mis-characterisation of many of our controlled schools, maintained schools and schools from other sectors, which already provide that naturally integrated and inclusive education? It is clear that, for some Members of the House, such is their lust for the status of integrated education at a school that they are willing to sacrifice the good and steady integrated education that already exists across the system.”
“Whilst I accept that some applications that fall under the Northern Ireland Environment Agency's remit have not supplied the appropriate details, vast swathes of genuine planning applications across a range of sectors are being held up with a point-blank, "No" or a delayed response from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. Will the Minister outline what funding could be rededicated and repurposed to ensure that the agency fulfils its obligations so that we can have a timely planning process?”
“Where a dog behaves in an aggressive manner, I have no problem whatever with the authorities dealing with the individual dog, but I have always had concern regarding the designation of a whole breed under the legislation. The Minister knows that. He will be aware of Max, the five-month-old puppy in Lisburn and Castlereagh. Under the breed legislation and guidance, the puppy would have been put down at five months. Thankfully, there was a reprieve for a third-party assessment. Does the Minister not accept that to put a healthy puppy down on the basis of an interpretation of how it may behave in future is totally wrong?”
“I thank the Minister for his comprehensive statement. The Minister will know that we are all concerned about the huge and rising numbers of children with special educational needs in our education system, the impact that that has on the child and the parents and how teachers, in many ways, feel under-equipped to deal with those huge numbers. Minister, how will the delivery of the SEN reform agenda be costed? What will be the cost? How will that be funded? Will the Minister also elaborate on some of the performance measures, which will be key to ensuring that we tackle the issue for the long term?”
“— of our nation and our people depend on them.”
“What was it over? It was over bond rates. Today, bond rates exceed those that Liz Truss's mini-Budget delivered. The cost of Government borrowing is increasing to staggering levels. It is we, the people of the United Kingdom, who face the consequences. <BR /> <BR />We were told that "Growth, growth, growth" would be the priority. However, what have the Labour Government delivered since that blunder Budget? It has been a policy of tax and burn. They have set the economy ablaze and left farmers, businesses and pensioners smouldering in the ashes under the weight of new taxes. Confidence in the business community is at an all-time low. It is high time that the Labour Government woke up from the la-la land in which they operate and got into the real world, because the prosperity —”
“Labour promised the farming community that it supported farmers, but introduced a change to the farm inheritance tax that is the most destructive measure that has been introduced to farming in the past 100 years. As a point of conversation today, although the Labour Government promised the growth of the UK economy, they have tanked the UK economy. <BR /> <BR />Let us look at the facts of Rachel Reeves's blunder Budget, because they speak clearly. As of last week, the cost of Government borrowing has exceeded a nearly 30-year high. The pound has taken a further hit against the dollar and is now at a 14-month low. The UK is seeing the worst inflation in the G7. Growth rates are around zero. Does anybody remember the public outcry from the media and Labour when Liz Truss's mini-Budget had apparently destroyed the UK economy?”
“People say that you can judge an individual or organisation not on their words but by their actions. In six months of the Labour Government, their actions have amounted to no more than betrayal, deceit and destruction. In Opposition, the Labour Party said that it supported a public inquiry into grooming gangs — gangs that gang-raped young white women right across England — yet, in Government, it has voted against a public inquiry. In Opposition, Labour said that it supported pensioners and their right to retain the winter fuel payment. In Government, it has cut some pensioners' eligibility for the winter fuel payment. As we have seen in Northern Ireland, many pensioners are now in hospital, where there are backlogs because there are no care packages for those pensioners who would be best placed at home.”
“I am happy to correct the record in that regard, and it is good to see a time when Ms Long was able to designate as a unionist. I doubt that she would be able to do so today.”
“I thank the Member for giving way. The Member has listened to a bit of a Pontius Pilate approach from Alliance in, "Not my problem, I don't designate". Does the Member agree that there was a time when the Alliance Party did designate as nationalists, gaming the system and working the arrangements set out in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement? While they may wash their hands today, their history proves that they were willing to use the systems when it suited them.”
“On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Will you confirm, for the clarity of the House, that Mrs Long is not the Speaker?”
“I thank the Member for giving way and for her passionate articulation of facts. Does the Member agree that, whilst there is sneering from some Benches about mutual enforcement, the genesis of the suggestion came from the EU itself?”
“I know that he knows the inside of 10 Downing Street a lot better than most of us, given the fact that he worked there for a Tory Prime Minister. <BR /> <BR />If the Member has always had the best interests of Northern Ireland in mind, does he regret passing a motion that called for the rigorous implementation of the original protocol, which, in a sense, was far worse than the variant that we have today? Was that a mistake? It was a signed declaration.”
“People who vote in the future have the right to expect that their democratic right will be exercised through their elected representatives in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the UK Parliament and the ability of those representatives to vote on laws made in the United Kingdom.”
“It is imperative that the Assembly assert its democratic rights in line with the provisions by which the institutions operate, the bedrock of which, as I have been told many times, is the Belfast Agreement. Some Members blindly continuing their love-in with the EU will lead only to more self-harm. <BR /> <BR />I will speak directly to the people of Northern Ireland: do not lose hope and think that this is the last opportunity to have your say on these matters. The 300 areas of law — the number is growing — that were surrendered to the EU by Alliance, the SDLP and Sinn Féin will come back to be voted on in four years. Skulduggery may succeed today, but the power lies in your hands. You have the ability to elect representatives to this place who can legislate in your interests, not at the behest of the European Union.”
“The EU overstretch and court interpretations, as we have seen in many policy areas, will have grave consequences for UK decision-making going forward. It has been alluded to that that may even come into sharp conflict with a potential US trade deal with the UK, because, while Northern Ireland continues to be bound by the EU's single market and customs union, we will for ever be in its regulatory orbit. <BR /> <BR />The practical problems that I outlined are only the symptom: the application of EU law is the root cause. The UK Brexit negotiators were the laughing stock of Europe as they hastily sold out their citizens, prioritising access to a foreign market over their own. We must put that right.”
“— the implementation and imposition of EU laws that no Member in this place or the UK Government can change. That is the reality. That will not change as a result of the Northern Ireland protocol. <BR /> <BR />Members may wish to shout "Brexit" from a sedentary position, but the reality is that the Northern Ireland protocol is your version of Brexit. You own it; you sell it. I say this to Alliance, the SDLP and Sinn Féin: when businesses go out of business because they cannot access their supply chains and when consumers are faced with challenges, you own it; it is yours. Do not say that you were not warned or that the concerns were not aired. Do not plead innocence when it comes to oversight. Today's vote is on you. <BR /> <BR />As I said, the imposition of EU law is the root cause.”
“The motion focuses on articles 5 to 10 of the protocol. If Members vote against it — I hope that I have convinced a few to do so — those provisions would be disapplied in two years' time. In theory, that would remove vast swathes of EU laws that were imposed on us without any say and at great detriment to many of our constituents. It may also ensure that our position in the single UK internal market is improved, but it would not remove all EU laws. The root cause of the problems that we face today is —”
“There is a cap on the amount of funding that can be given to farming, for example. How will that impact on future investment on farms and any schemes that the Executive might wish to bring forward to offset the harm of inheritance tax rules or National Insurance contributions? Northern Ireland agriculture is already hampered with regard to funding streams for capital investment compared with other regions of the United Kingdom. If Members use their vote to approve those laws by sending control of them back to the EU, support systems for agriculture may not be there in the future.”
“The circumstances in which the EU can bring action against the UK over subsidies in Northern Ireland under EU state aid rules were tightened under the Windsor framework, but the underlying legal position remains. The EU must approve the allocation of UK financial support to companies within the United Kingdom: how absurd. Businesses that are looking for intervention and financial support — for example, during COVID we saw a need for a fast supply of money to businesses to ensure that they remained operational — will get it only if the EU says that that is possible. <BR /> <BR />Members on these Benches have always been concerned that those provisions could endanger support, investment and even, perhaps, rates relief policy in Northern Ireland compared with other regions in the United Kingdom.”
“<BR /> <BR />Aside from whether the Assembly continues to see merit in cross-border cooperation on wholesale electricity, which was the point that Mr O'Toole raised, it is a perverse feature of today's vote that MLAs are expected to vote on the discontinuation of articles 5 to 10 as a block. It does not give you the option to say, "I like article 9, but I do not like article 5"; the vote is en bloc. There is no individual scrutiny of each provision of the protocol. <BR /> <BR />Because of article 10, Northern Ireland has been carved out of a number of provisions in the UK Subsidy Control Act 2022 in relation to subsidies that are deemed to affect trade between Northern Ireland and the EU.”
“I know very well how the lights in the Building work — thank you, Mr O'Toole, for that education — but I will say this: for Mr O'Toole to suggest that I am filibustering on an issue that is of such magnitude and such importance to the constituents of Northern Ireland is so dismissive, but it is not untypical of the SDLP's approach throughout. I do not care what time I stand on my feet to in the Chamber to ensure that the legitimate concerns of the people of Northern Ireland are represented. If the Member wants to go home, by all means he should do so, but I will not leave the Chamber before I have stood up and shouted out for those constituents.”
“That may seem very technical to a lot of Members, but, in reality, when you follow some of that through, you see that there is huge risk of divergence. I give way to Mr O'Toole.”
“The danger is in what is coming down the tracks. The EU's plans for a carbon border adjustment mechanism run the risk of creating a carbon border within the United Kingdom, with checks and tariffs on goods like electricity, iron, steel, aluminium and some fertilisers that move between GB and Northern Ireland. That is because those carbon taxes would be levied on goods that originate in countries that do not apply EU emissions trading rules.”
“<BR /> <BR />Article 8 sees Northern Ireland shackled to the EU's VAT regime, which means that the UK VAT margin scheme has not been available for second-hand goods purchased in GB and moved to Northern Ireland since January 2021. That is strangling many businesses and sectors that source the bulk of their stock from GB for onward sale. It is absolutely imperative that the Government at Westminster regain the power to make regulations specifying VAT, excise and taxation to lessen, eliminate or avoid difference between Northern Ireland and GB. <BR /> <BR />Article 9 deals with the functioning of the single electricity market, with Northern Ireland being subject to EU laws that deal with the generation, transmission and supply of electricity. We are governed by the EU's state aid rules on energy in that respect.”
“Article 6 states that restrictions on GB to NI trade should apply only where strictly necessary and in order to provide assurances to the EU. My goodness. The article that is there to protect internal UK trade contains the condition, "Only if the EU says we can". That is a despicable display of negotiating by the UK Government. Think about the threat of trees and of British soil. How dare they enter the Northern Ireland marketplace. <BR /> <BR />Article 7 gives effect to huge swathes of EU law that govern the regulation of goods produced in Northern Ireland. We see that impact of that acutely in many of the laws that we scrutinise on the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee. Competitive disadvantage continues to prevail for local firms. The risk of divergence is always present.”
“A load that is brought from GB into Northern Ireland is often a mixed load, but, because a business cannot guarantee that its entire container will stay in Northern Ireland, it is essentially pushed down the road of full customs checks. I spoke to hauliers about that. They cannot say wholeheartedly that their load will not end up in the Republic of Ireland, so they are being pushed down that road, when the likelihood is that it will all stay in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Article 6 deals with the protection of the UK internal market. We would expect that to right the wrongs of disrupting internal UK trade that are outlined in article 5. Bear in mind that the title of article 6 is "Protection of the UK internal market": is that not ironic?”
“He noted the huge impact that the disruption caused by the protocol is having on his ability to secure produce from GB businesses across the Irish Sea and on to Northern Ireland shelves for consumers. He told me, "I feel less of a citizen. Businesses in Scotland and Wales can freely trade into England and vice versa, yet I, with my UK-registered company and as a British citizen, face the prospect of my business being destroyed because people in Northern Ireland, at the behest of the EU, are intent on ensuring that we can't make our own laws: laws that demand the careful curation of conditions that suit the Northern Ireland consumer". That is a huge issue that continues to face many people. <BR /> <BR />Those who have some understanding of haulage across the Irish Sea know that it can be complex in the extreme in many regards.”
“Article 5 applies the EU customs code in Northern Ireland. It decrees that GB is a third country and gives supremacy to EU single market rules. It also sustains the at-risk test, which punishes many businesses by pushing them into the red lane for full customs checks. That bureaucracy is disrupting internal, domestic UK trade. It is having a devastating impact on the haulage sector, which anybody who takes time to speak to the sector will understand. <BR /> <BR />I spoke to one haulier just yesterday, because I wanted to ensure that I highlighted today the views of the people who are suffering from the imposition of the protocol. The haulier to whom I spoke is from the second generation of his family to have served the Northern Ireland economy.”
“Technological solutions were decried by the Members opposite throughout most of the Brexit process, but those technical solutions can offer real hope to the people of Northern Ireland, respecting their constitutional outlook whilst ensuring that trade maintains free and unfettered within the United Kingdom.”
“I was taken a bit to the wayside there, but I come back to the point following Ms Nicholl's point. Let us look at this: we are told that EU access is so important. Britain has access to the EU market. The United States has access to the EU market, but the US does not sacrifice or surrender its own internal market access for its own citizens at the behest of a foreign entity to enter a foreign market at the expense of our largest market, that of the internal market of the United Kingdom. <BR /> <BR />Articles 5 to 10 are again causing a continued chilling impact on GB trade. I have mentioned this time and again. Members should be very alert to the fact that this will get worse as time goes on. What has "no hard border on the island of Ireland" achieved? It is only hardship and disruption, rather than practical measures.”
“Let me reassure her that the collapse was because of the political instability that the protocol created. <BR /> <BR />As for dual market access, you would think that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Joe Biden were bowled over by so many Members in the Chamber. What was the attitude? Was it that Northern Ireland was the most interesting, exciting economic space in the Western world, the Singapore of the western isles? Wow! There is not one example of where dual market access has secured foreign direct investment. <BR /> <BR />Members, pull the curtain back from your eyes. Stand back from your EU love-in and realise that your quest to ensure regulatory alignment with the EU is causing pain to the very people whom you claim to represent. <BR /> <BR />I remind you all of this.”
“I thank the Member for her intervention. She will know that I addressed, at the beginning of my contribution, some of the issues through which the institutions collapsed. I do not think that she wants me to go over them again.”
“I will in a moment. <BR /> <BR />The economist Dr Esmond Birnie is repeatedly on record debunking the myth of dual market access, because it is exactly that. You cannot have dual market access. One rule will supersede the other, and essentially that is what is happening by means of the protocol. Members always talk about the access to the European market and how essential it is for businesses in Northern Ireland. They make it out as though, if we did not have the protocol and did not have the arrangements that Northern Ireland has in place, we would not be able to trade with the EU.”
“There is no such equal playing field, so dual market access is the myth: trading divergence is the reality. It comes down to this question: who has supremacy? The EU has supremacy in trading terms. The EU's rules ensure that GB is classed as a foreign entity; a third-party country in trading terms with the rest of Northern Ireland.”
“Just recently, at a meeting of the Economy Committee, I asked the chief executive of Invest NI whether he could point to an example of business having been won to Northern Ireland as a result of our unique dual market access. Members, the chief executive could point to none. How many times in the Chamber have we heard Members extol the virtues of dual market access? Yet, it was revealed by the very chief executive who is charged with trying to secure foreign direct investment that there is no such benefit that he could recount to date. <BR /> <BR />Just recently, Tina McKenzie from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) talked about how GPSR rules were seriously disrupting the ability of GB businesses to trade into Northern Ireland. Dual market access is a myth because, in order to achieve it, you have to have an equal playing field.”
“I really thank the Member for that point, because it is such a point of contention for me. Northern Ireland did not get Brexit. Let us face it. Why did we not get Brexit? It was because it was the intent of the Alliance Party, the SDLP and Sinn Féin to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland were bound to the EU single market and to EU customs codes. I remind the Member that, in doing so at the behest of his EU paymasters, he has disenfranchised the people of Northern Ireland. He has ensured that our consumers have less choice and that businesses continue to struggle with the rigorous implementation of the very barriers that his party called for. <BR /> <BR />Do not just take my view or the views of the Members on these Benches on how that is impacting on local consumers.”
“They can take the fish from Lough Neagh and bring it to GB, but, on the journey across the Irish Sea, it somehow becomes a threat to the single market. It is ridiculous in the extreme, and that will only grow over time. <BR /> <BR />That is a list of issues that I and Members on these Benches have experienced.”
“My constituency colleague Cheryl Brownlee discussed particular concerns that some of her constituents have brought to her, particularly about crafting. Again, they have been told, "Not in Northern Ireland". <BR /> <BR />Just this morning, I spoke to a local angler who informed me that he can no longer receive dead bait from GB suppliers. Members may ask what that is, and I see that Mr Honeyford is laughing keenly at that, so let me give him a very easy explanation that goes to the very heart of the absurdities of some of the rules. Roach that is caught in Lough Neagh goes to GB and is processed and vacuum-packed in order to be sold as dead bait to local anglers. What has happened? The GB companies are saying, "Not for Northern Ireland". Wow.”
“Agri-intermediate goods will still be subject to full EU requirements and procedures. Professional operators in GB will still not be able to sell seed potatoes directly to consumers in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />I see that the First Minister is leaving. She is not content to debate and listen to the issues, which affect all our constituents. Just this week, I was in contact with a constituent who cannot get fabric. My goodness, such a threat to the EU market. An elderly lady emailed me just this week to tell me that, because of the proposed new GPSR rules, fabric and craft companies are no longer supplying Northern Ireland. That may seem trivial to some Members who want to sweep it under the carpet with the EU laws that have been surrendered to Brussels, but, in reality, that is having an impact on everyday consumers.”