Speaker of Lords: It’s been good to return to see progress in Northern Ireland since my time as a government minister after the Belfast Agreement in 1990s

When I was recently elected as Lord Speaker one of my priorities was to strengthen ties between the House of Lords and the devolved legislatures in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

That is why I am so pleased that this week my first official visit as Lord Speaker was to Belfast. I developed a great affection for the place when I served as a Northern Ireland Minister in the late 1990s in the years after the Good Friday Agreement so it was brilliant to be back and see the progress that has been made.

One of the important functions of the Lord Speaker is to act as an ambassador for the House of Lords, explaining what we do and why, and building connections with the public. I am firmly of the view that Parliamentarians and Assembly Members can do a better job of holding our respective governments to account if we work closely together on issues that affect us all. I very much enjoyed discussing that this week with Alex Maskey my counterpart in the Northern Ireland Assembly and other Assembly Members.

I also met with community and volunteer groups doing fantastic work in Belfast. I heard lots of different views on the House of Lords but what is clear to me is that stereotypes about the House get in the way of the public understanding what we do and the role we play. The Lords has a key role in holding the Government to account both in improving legislation and through our Committees. In April the House appointed a dedicated Committee scrutinising the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

That Committee has Members from Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK representing a range of views both on the Protocol and on Northern Ireland’s constitutional position. That Committee’s work will be influential in determining how policymakers respond to the current challenges. The Committee will be coming to Northern Ireland themselves in November to hear from businesses, community groups and politicians about their experience of the impact of the Protocol on the ground.

The Lords plays a key role in improving legislation on behalf of the public. The wealth of expertise of Members of the Lords, including many from Northern Ireland, means real world knowledge is brought to bear in improving draft laws in a way that rarely happens in the Commons.

To name just one example, the Environment Bill is about to be sent back to the Commons with at least 14 significant amendments, ideas proposed by, among others, members of the Committee on Climate Change, leading engineers and distinguished environmental academics.

These changes, if agreed by the House of Commons will improve environmental protection and iron out defects that, without an expert second chamber, would have made it into law.

I hope my trip this week will be just the start of engaging with the public and devolved legislatures right across the country. I want the House of Lords to be at the heart of the national conversation and it was pleasure to start that process in Belfast.

Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord McFall of Alcluith

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