Labour in bid to avert Northern Ireland power cuts as result of Brexit legislation

Peter Hain: ‘It is our duty – not the EU’s – to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland.’ Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A Labour peer is launching a bid to avert a fresh energy crisis with potential power cuts and drastic electricity price rises in Northern Ireland as a result of proposed Brexit legislation.

The former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain will table an amendment to the Northern Ireland protocol bill in the House of Lords on Wednesday to protect the so-called single energy market (SEM), which allows power to be traded with the island of Ireland as one economic unit.