To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for an update on the total cost of the legal advice he received in relation to halting sanitary and phytosanitary checks at points of entry.

Mr Poots (The Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs)

As I have not yet received an invoice, I am unable to provide an update on the total cost of the legal advice that I received in relation to halting sanitary and phytosanitary checks at points of entry.

Mr Poots

I certainly do not agree that they are necessary. In the first instance, food that comes into Northern Ireland and is to remain in Northern Ireland poses zero threat to the European Union single market. The fact that the Alliance Party, today, through Mr Dickson, has indicated that it wants to have checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which will lead to less supply and, in turn, to higher costs and a reduced offer to consumers, demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that the Alliance Party is more interested in the politics of the European Union than it is about the people whom it serves.

Mr McGuigan

Minister, in your responses to previous questions for written and oral answer, including the one just now, you have not provided an answer about the cost of that advice on halting sanitary and phytosanitary checks. Can you confirm how much was paid to the Attorney General for his advice? Was he paid with public money?

Mr Poots

Well, we do not have a bill, the Attorney General is female, not male, and the Attorney General does not charge for advice.

Mr O'Toole

I note that the Agriculture Minister has not made clear why he chose to take legal advice from the former Attorney General rather than the current one. I want to ask about the free trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, the latter of which was signed yesterday. Last year, Minister, you said that you had been clear with UK Ministers that tariff-free access to the UK for New Zealand farmers posed a serious threat to our farmers. What went wrong, Minister? Did the UK Ministers simply not listen to you?

Mr Poots

First of all, the Member makes an assumption that I did not receive advice from the current Attorney General and, indeed, from the Departmental Solicitor's Office and others. The Member will be well aware that that is purely an assumption and does not have any veracity. Nonetheless, we will leave that to one side. On the New Zealand trade deal, of course I have demonstrated quite clearly my concerns about potential trade deals. There are trade deals that will bring us significant benefits and open the doors for Northern Ireland to export its high-quality food. Quite a number of trade deals have already taken place that will be to our benefit. The trade deals with Australia and New Zealand will always be challenging for us because they are large food-producing countries. However, there are opportunities for other businesses in Northern Ireland, not least for people who export engineering expertise to Australia, for example, with all the mining equipment that is produced, mainly in mid-Ulster. Therefore, there are advantages to those deals as well as disadvantages. The disadvantages, if they come through, will take time to come through. At present, Australia sells a large amount of its beef in Southeast Asia, and, consequently, does not need the UK market, but that may not always be the case. I have highlighted and expressed my concerns about that. That having been said, when we left the European Union, our beef was about 20% lower in price than it currently is, so it is hard for the Member to claim that we have done badly out of it.

Mr Allister

The Alliance party and the other rigorous implementers of the protocol are obsessing about the modest cost of legal advice, which established that the checks were unlawful, in contrast with the figure that the Minister gave last month of £10 million for the cost of those checks, never mind the tens of millions of pounds of costs to business under the Trader Support Service (TSS). Does the Minister agree that that is a telling insight into where the interests of such questioners lie?

Mr Poots

Absolutely. Thousands of checks and CHED documents have to be completed by businesses, and additional staff had to be recruited by businesses as a consequence of the protocol. The services that are provided by the TSS will be withdrawn, and, ultimately, that cost will be passed on. The European Union demands that we pass all the costs that the Government and this Department bear to businesses, and it even wants us to check people's cars and luggage. That is what the Alliance Party wants, and that is why the Alliance Party has shown itself up today in its demands for the rigorous implementation of the protocol. [Interruption.]

Mr Beggs

I thank the Minister for his answer

—

Mr Speaker

Order, Members.

Mr Beggs

— to the question on legal costs, but there is an additional cost for transport arrangements and bureaucracy across business, with some suppliers not even continuing to supply Northern Ireland. What assessment has there been of the detrimental impact on the Northern Ireland economy and to the public, who cannot even buy some plants in garden centres?

Mr Poots

The fact is that it is easier to import a tree from Lithuania than from Lancashire. That might not be the case when Mr Putin is finished, but that is the reality, folks. We have a country that has had a barrier put within it. That has never been tried in any other country in the world. The fact that we have individuals in this country saying, "We want more of it [Interruption.]

Mr Poots, you have not done enough on the protocol. We want you to do more to make it difficult for people to buy goods

from their own country".

Mr Speaker

Order, Members. [Interruption.]

Mr Poots

That is an outrageous situation and an outrageous proposal.

Mr Speaker

I do not want to have to keep intervening, but I will insist that we get order so that we can continue with Question Time.