Lord Oates:

I thank the members for their interesting questions and responses. I very much share their view. I have always been most worried about our exit from the EU ultimately ending up with a lot of finger-pointing and everyone blaming each other while possibly having a little bit of right on their side. That would be terrible and we really need to watch out because, once one goes down that line, things can quickly ratchet up and become very difficult. We should all do what we can, whatever the outcome of these negotiations, to avoid that.

The issue of the Commonwealth was raised. Given the history of our islands, those matters should be entirely left to Ireland. I will leave that there.

I would like to ask a question. Lord Kerr raised the issue of the level playing field, adjudication mechanisms and possible landing zones. As one passionately against Brexit, the one thing that seemed a little difficult was the idea that governance arrangements would really be in the hands of the EU institutions. I noted that a number of the committee's members brought this up when taking evidence from the Minister, Deputy Coveney. He was understandably very cautious about expressing a view given the ongoing negotiations, but do any members of the committee have a view as to whether this is an area on which there might possibly be some movement from the EU side?