Professor Colin Harvey:

On the issue of governance around the withdrawal agreement and the protocol, considerable thought has gone into creating an architecture around the withdrawal agreement protocol that allows for dispute resolution and adjudication in relation to problems that arise there, and it is quite an elaborate architecture that is there. In relation to the Good Friday Agreement, recall that the protocol includes Article 2. It includes a reference to no diminution in relation to rights and equality, and specifically references a part of the Good Friday Agreement in the protocol, so it is very likely in the future that the Good Friday Agreement will find itself being discussed within that architecture. A second aspect to keep in mind is that we need to be mindful that, with any agreement that involves the UK Government, whatever guarantees are there need to find their way fully and effectively into British law, policy, and practice. Bear in mind the majority of people in Northern Ireland do not want to leave the EU, but if Brexit happens, it is vital to ensure that the guarantees that are in the withdrawal agreement, for example, in relation to rights and equality, are fully reflected in that Bill as it goes through Parliament. To repeat myself, we do not want to end up in a situation here where the committee is hearing evidence in the years ahead from individuals affected, whose rights have been infringed, but there is no way for them to do anything about it. To be fair, some of the lessons that have emerged from the agreement have been learned in the context of those negotiations between the EU and UK in relation to the enforceability dispute resolution and adjudication of the guarantees that are given there. They are not ideal, but it is clear that there are lessons that have been learned, but it will need to be watched carefully in the time ahead.