Belfast, Northern Ireland: The RHA met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Lord Caine yesterday (22 February) to discuss the Northern Ireland Protocol.
RHA policy lead for Northern Ireland John Martin said: “We welcome the Prime Minister’s engagement to update business on progress with their negotiations with the European Commission. It’s also reassuring that our stance from day one of the protocol is broadly accepted as being reflective of the real issues. Hopefully, we can now see the free movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland with no back-office bureaucracy being agreed.”
The RHA says that the protocol has added strain for haulage operators in the UK. Some RHA members have reported that it can take an extra two days for the movement of the more complex food groupage loads which adds considerable cost and results in less efficient movements and more down time, says the association.
One EU diplomat told the BBC an agreement is believed to be getting close but it was not a done deal. “They’re getting everyone ready for things to move fast,” he said.
Some believe that a deal on the protocol might be achieved early next week.
