Former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain will table an amendment to the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in the House of Lords on Wednesday to protect the so-called single energy market (SEM), which allows energy to be traded with the island of Ireland as single. economic unit. He fears that if the bill were to become law, access to the SEM would disappear, disrupting Northern Ireland’s energy supply. Such is the importance of the SEM that two years ago government officials feared thousands of barge-mounted power generators would have to be sent ashore in Northern Ireland to maintain energy supplies in the event of a no-deal Brexit. “It is our duty – not the EU’s – to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland,” Lord Hayne said. “If the EU decides to block the continued free flow of goods and electricity across the Irish border due to the repeal of the TEU [the court of justice of the European Union] from the protocol, it would not be a sign of his malice, but rather a well-marked consequence of the government’s reckless recklessness to write the bill in this way,” he is expected to tell his peers in the House of Lords. The single energy market is seen as a triumph of cooperation between Northern Ireland and democracy in the post-Troubles era. Leaked Whitehall documents in 2018 suggested electricity bills could rise by up to £200, diesel generators would be needed to keep power supplies running and energy companies could collapse. Hayne said the impact of the skeleton protocol bill going through the Lords included “unknown consequences” because “so much of its effect will come through powers that are neither clearly delineated nor specified”. He added that he did not doubt that the continued role of the European court could be resolved to support the SEM, but would have to be negotiated outside of this bill. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “By amending the Bill to avoid a situation where the removal of the CJEU’s jurisdiction could have unintended consequences for the operation of the single electricity market – which the Government has made clear it wishes to continue to operate fully – it will we will at least ensure that there is no disruption of electricity to NI, even if it loses free access to the EU single market for goods,” Hain will say. Labor has stepped up its campaign to stop the Northern Ireland protocol by leaving the statue books intact, with 22 amendments tabled 10 days ago. Jenny Chapman, shadow cabinet minister in the Lords, told the Guardian the bill was “an abomination, which undermines the UK’s reputation as a responsible, reliable partner” and called on the government to “repeal this reckless legislation”.
