I urge the Committee to reject these regulations. I take issue with the Minister saying that this is an improvement. The original propositions of the protocol were never implemented. The grace periods remain the current position, which is that no pet passports, no documentation and no requirement to be part of a pet scheme is needed to bring your pet from GB to the other part of the United Kingdom.
What these regulations do is impose a pet passport scheme. People must belong to a pet scheme and submit their dog, cat or ferret to documentary and identity checks on getting on the boat and on leaving the boat—all that is within the one country. All that is because, for the first time since Brexit, the EU has legislated for the United Kingdom. I want that to sink in. What these regulations do is impose EU regulation 2023/1231. Let me read the title of that measure, which is a regulation of the European Parliament, not of this Parliament, and of the Council:
“Regulation (EU) 2023/1231 on specific rules relating to the entry into Northern Ireland from other parts of the United Kingdom of certain consignments of retail goods, plants for planting, seed potatoes, machinery and certain vehicles operated for agricultural or forestry purposes, as well as non-commercial movements of certain pet animals into Northern Ireland”.
These regulations impose that foreign-made regulation, made not for the EU—it is not applicable to the EU—but for this United Kingdom. How is it that we have got to the point that this Committee is expected merely to nod to legislation made not by this House, for this United Kingdom? It is not that it is imposing obligations unique to Northern Ireland; it is imposing obligations on GB citizens, who want to bring their pet to visit family, the Giant’s Causeway or the many tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. Now, courtesy of the demands of this foreign EU legislation, they must belong to a pet scheme, apply for and obtain a pet passport, subject their pet to document and identity checks, and then—and only then—can they move their pet internally within the United Kingdom. That is an astounding situation, and an astounding imposition on citizens of Great Britain.
As I read the regulations, that imposition extends even to guide dogs. Think about it. If someone who needs a guide dog comes from GB to visit a relative in my constituency or elsewhere, or the Giant’s Causeway in my constituency, they must have a pet passport. Why? Not because of regulations made by this House, but because legislation passed by the EU says that he or she must have one. Many guide dogs are reared in Northern Ireland for GB use. They are trained in Northern Ireland, and every one of them will be subject to this unnecessary regulation.
We are told that it is all to protect the EU market. We are told that we cannot have an SPS border where it should be—where the actual border is—but we must have it in the Irish sea. The farce of these regulations is that if someone brings their dog from GB to Northern Ireland, and wants to visit Donegal or Dublin across the border, then they must subject themselves to a full SPS border where we were told it cannot be—at the actual border. How farcical is that? We cannot have an SPS border where it should be. We must therefore impose restrictions on animals coming from GB to Northern Ireland, but if we take a dog onwards to the Republic, then yes, we are subject to full SPS checks. Where? Where we are told we cannot even have an SPS border.
The other dimension of the regulations, and the subservience that we are invited to submit ourselves to, is that if the EU is dissatisfied with the United Kingdom’s implementation of them, then under EU regulation, it can suspend them or take whatever steps it wishes. What this Parliament has been asked to do, on behalf of its citizens—primarily its GB citizens—is put them at the mercy of the EU’s regulations, not United Kingdom registration, which could allow their animal to be put into quarantine. Indeed, under the regulations, if an animal fails the document or identify check, it has to go into SPS custody. I assume that means it goes into quarantine, in its own country. Little wonder the other place debated these regulations. I have initiated an early-day motion for this House to debate them. I suspect it will not, but it certainly should, because they are a fundamental assault on basic freedoms.
The other point to stress is that most other things governed by the Irish sea border are governed under the pretext that they are commercial. This is the extension of the Irish sea border to the non-commercial movement of pets. Why should that be? We are told that this improves the present situation, but I have already explained why it does not: the present situation is free movement.
At present, cats and ferrets do not need to be microchipped—yes, dogs need to be microchipped, but not cats or ferrets. Under these regulations, cats, ferrets and dogs must all be microchipped to move within this United Kingdom. Frankly, that is a step far too far. The Committee should take a stand and say, “We cannot—we will not—put this upon our citizens.” Why should we, if all someone is doing is bringing their best friend—their dog—with them within the United Kingdom? That is why I invite the Committee not to approve the regulations.
I raise considerable concern that there was no impact assessment on the regulations on the fatuous grounds that they were less severe than they might have been— that is no comfort; there should have been an impact assessment—and because, equally fatuously, there is no impact on business. Of course there is not—the movements are non-commercial. It is all the worse that we have now got to the point where non-commercial movements are being dictated to us under regulations.
As the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham said, there was no public consultation. Why not? These regulations affect every dog, cat and ferret owner in Great Britain. Should there not have been a public consultation, particularly as they affect every guide dog owner? That is where it really cuts to the quick. I say to the Committee that the case is not made for these regulations and they should be taken back, because to go down this road is to take a step far too far in being subservient to a foreign Parliament telling us what people in this country can do with their dogs, cats and ferrets.