Chamber and committees

The inaugural meeting of the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly was held on the morning on which the UK Government announced the bill, which did not set that partnership off on the best of terms, to say the least. We will meet again in the next couple of weeks. At that inaugural meeting, it was absolutely the view of Commissioner Šefcovic and the European contributors that the TCA was working and that that had been demonstrated by the negotiations on medicines.

Do you share that opinion? Do you think that the bill can be withdrawn and that we can move forward to negotiate on the areas, as highlighted by Mr Cameron, where there is a will?

I believe that Professor Barnard is with us now. I am not sure whether she heard my opening question. Do you want to make comment at this point? I do not think that the connection is good enough. Perhaps we can look into that.

I open up the questions to members. I invite Mr Cameron to come in.

I am conscious of time, but I will finish with a question that is really for the wider public’s understanding. We have heard quite concerning things. In your last contribution, Dr Fox, you said that the situation is “extremely worrying”. I think that Sir Jonathan Jones said earlier that potentially it will not end well. We already know that the measures are stifling certain areas of the trade and co-operation agreement, such as access to horizon funding and justice co-operation, and that there is an impact on Scottish areas, in agrifoods and exports. The emergency in my mind and that of many of my colleagues is the cost of living crisis. However, just how serious would it be for the reputation and the economy of the UK if the situation escalates into a further area of contention or indeed a trade war with the EU? Your answer could be succinct, and I realise that you may not want to answer the question.

I call Mark Ruskell, who joins us online.

Thank you all for your contributions. We are again sorry that Professor Barnard had to leave, but she has indicated that she will write in with any comments on the questions if she wishes to add to her submission to the committee.

I will suspend the meeting briefly to allow the next witnesses to come on board.

For our second panel this morning, as part of our consideration for the legislative consent memorandum on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, I welcome Angus Robertson MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, External Affairs and Culture, who is joined by Frank Strang, deputy director of EU relations at the Scottish Government, and Chris Nicholson, solicitor, Scottish Government legal directorate. A warm welcome to you. Cabinet secretary, I invite you to make an opening statement.

I have a couple of final questions, cabinet secretary. A lot of our evidence has focused on the Sewel convention and how it has operated. The Hansard Society raised some concerns about that today. At a time when almost everything is changing, if we are dependent on the traditional conventions that we have, how do we move forward and ensure that what happens is not just about who is in place and the willingness of the Prime Minister and the Government? Is there something that we can do to improve the constitutional arrangements? From the evidence that we have seen, the Sewel convention appears to be, to put it politely, under strain.

I will bring in Dr Allan. I am conscious of time, so if we can try to keep things short for the remainder of the session, that will be helpful.

Professor Barnard—are you there? We are not hearing you at the moment.

We can hear you now, yes.