Brexit and Beyond

01 June 2026

In this week’s edition, we take a look back at the recent North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association meeting which took place in Dublin on 22 May 2026.  

We also cover the updated guidance on the SPS Agreement which was published by DEFRA last Thursday.  

In this week’s Assembly Round-up – we highlight an Assembly research briefing on the Areas of Natural Constraint (Payments) Bill, which was provided to the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee at its meeting last week.    

We also look ahead to upcoming debates and discussion topics in the Assembly, Westminster and the European Parliament this week, and as always, we link you through to the news stories and items of interest you may have missed.    

 

 

 Assembly Round-up 

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Our regular weekly round-up of Brexit, EU and international focused debates and Committee evidence sessions at the Assembly.

On Thursday, the Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs received a briefing from the Assembly’s Research and Information Service (RaISe) on the Areas of Natural Constraint (Payments) Bill.  

The Private Members’ Bill which is sponsored by Declan McAleer, MLA, aims to reintroduce targeted support for farmers operating in Northern Ireland’s most disadvantaged areas. Historically, the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme and its predecessor schemes under the EU Common Agricultural Policy provided essential payments to offset higher costs and income foregone in upland farming. These schemes ended in 2018.  

The Agriculture Act 2020, one of the main pieces of legislation regulating local agriculture post EU exit, contains provisions to allow the modification of the basic payment scheme to include a payment for ANCs. However, to date, the power to make regulations to provide for ANC payments has not been exercised by the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. The current Private Member’s Bill places a statutory duty on the Department to do so.

The RaISe briefing paper includes information on the background to and rationale for the Bill, details EU Exit and UK Agriculture Act provisions as well as potential issues for consideration. You can read the briefing paper in full here and watch Thursday’s meeting here.

 

 

 This week in the Assembly... 

image shows the inside of the Assembly Chamber - taken from the main door towards the Speaker's Chair.

Earlier today, the Minister for Infrastructure, Liz Kimmins MLA delivered a statement on the recent North South Ministerial Council’s Transport Sectoral Meeting.  

The Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir MLA also updated Members on theNorth South Ministerial Council’s Aquaculture & Marine and Agriculture Sectoral Meetings.

On Thursday, the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee (DSC) will take evidence from departmental officials on amending an EU regulation regarding the extension of certain data protection periods.  

Further evidence will be provided to the Committee by Department for the Economy officials, on an EU proposal for a Regulation establishing a framework of measures for the acceleration of industrial capacity and decarbonisation in strategic sectors and amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1724, (EU) 2024/1735 and (EU) 2024/3110. 

Regular readers will recall that we covered the UK Government’s recent Explanatory Memorandum on theIndustrial Accelerator Act, in the 18 May edition of Brexit and Beyond.  

You can watch Thursday’s meeting here. 

 

 

 Parliamentary Planner 

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House of Commons

 Questions to the Ministry of Defence this afternoon include: What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of increasing levels of defence co-operation with the EU.

On Tuesday, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is expected to respond to a question on any recent discussions the Minister has had with his EU counterparts on the UK’s participation in the EU’s internal electricity market.

Meanwhile, during Northern Ireland questions on Wednesday, a question has been tabled asking the Secretary of State what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department's policies of the Supreme Court judgment in the Dillon case.  

On Thursday, questions tabled to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs include: What discussions the Minister has had with Scottish fisheries on the UK–EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, and; what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the UK–EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement on the farming sector. 

 

House of Lords 

 The European Affairs Committee will continue its inquiry on Dynamic Alignment on Tuesday. Providing evidence this week are representatives from: UK Steel; Centrica; Make UK; Flint Global and the London School of Economics. You can watch the evidence session here.  

During oral questions on Thursday, the Government is expected to respond to a question regarding what progress they have made in securing better cultural exchange arrangements between the creative sectors of the EU and the UK.

 

EU Parliament  

On Tuesday, the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety will hold a public hearing on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) which will involve two panel discussions. The first will focus on EU ETS: State of play in delivering cost effective decarbonisation, while the second panel will explore Next steps for EU ETS: revision in view of the EU 2040 target.

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Committee on Culture and Education will consider a draft report on Establishing the Erasmus+ programme for the period 2028-2034. The Committee will also discuss lessons learnt and the way forward with regards Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps and Creative Europe.  

From Wednesday 3 – Friday 5 June, a delegation from the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs will visit London. The delegation will hold a series of meetings with UK parliamentarians, civil servants, NGOs and academic experts.

Discussions will centre upon current topics and themes for EU-U.K. cooperation, including law enforcement cooperation, privacy and data transfers, protecting children online, consent-based definitions of rape, and artificial intelligence. You can find further information about the visit here.  

 

 

 North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association meets at Leinster House 

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The Eleventh plenary session of the North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association (NSIPA) took place in Leinster House, Dublin on Friday, 22 May.  

Co-chaired by the Assembly Speaker, Edwin Poots MLA and the Ceann Comhairle, Verona Murphy TD, the meeting brought together representatives from political parties and independent Members from the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Houses of the Oireachtas.  

During the meeting, representatives from the Irish Hospice Foundation, the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, University College Dublin and the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice discussed paediatric cancer, palliative care and paediatric pathology.  

Members heard that in relation to palliative care, there are significant opportunities to improve education, awareness and training across the island of Ireland. They also voiced support for certain services being provided on an all-island basis, including ways to reduce the need for patients to travel to receive specialist services.

The second session of the meeting centred upon the current €1.14bn PEACEPLUS Programme. Representatives from the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), South West College, and the Training for Women Network (TWN) were on hand to discuss and outline the impact of funding across a number of areas.  

Among the current programmes highlighted was The Change Maker Funding Programme. Members also received presentations on the Youthscape+ Project and the Women’s ReconciliNation Project.  

Further discussion took place regarding the impact of PEACEPLUS, with general support expressed for funding to be preserved through a successor programme. Members also discussed how the programme could potentially evolve in a future funding period, with projects reflecting changing societal needs.

The NSIPA is scheduled to hold its next meeting at Parliament Buildings, later this year. You can read the NSIPA press release in full here and find out further information on the North South Inter-Parliamentary Assembly here.   

 

 

 DEFRA updates its guidance on the SPS Agreement 

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On Thursday, 28 March, the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs updated its guidance for businesses in relation to the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU.  

The guidance notes that it is the UK Government’s intent that the SPS agreement will take effect in mid-2027, however it underlines that exact timings of when arrangements will change are subject to the outcome of ongoing negotiations.  

Included in the updated information are ten specific sectoral guides, for different types of business. 

The sector specific guidance advises that while the Windsor Framework will continue to apply: “In practice, the movement schemes set up under the Windsor Framework should no longer be needed, other than potentially for a limited number of goods not covered by the agreement. The Northern Ireland plant health label (NIPHL) scheme will not be needed at all.” It also sets out the list of areas in scope under a new SPS agreement.  

You can access the full list as well as the specific sectoral guides here.

 

 

 In case you missed it…  

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