London, UK: The UK government has set out its plans to improve the flow of goods to and from Northern Ireland, a key demand of the Democratic Unionist Party in exchange for rejoining the region’s power-sharing government.
The UK and the EU agreed a Brexit deal for Northern Ireland known as the Windsor Framework in March 2023. That built on an earlier agreement called the Northern Ireland Protocol. Northern Ireland’s largest unionist party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to support either plan, but has backed the new deal.
The British government says its changes will mean more than 80% of all freight movements from Britain to Northern Ireland will be treated as ‘not at risk’ of moving onwards to the EU via the soft border with EU member Ireland. The previous “green lane” for goods travelling from Britain into Northern Ireland, which requires a certain percentage of goods to be checked, will be replaced with an “internal market system”.
The only checks will be those conducted as part of a “risk-based approach to tackle criminality, smuggling and disease risks”. There will be no routine checks on British items which are staying in Northern Ireland. There will still be a so-called “red lane” for transporting goods from Britain to Ireland or elsewhere in the EU, but steps will be taken to reduce the amount of goods that need to be included in this route.
The paper said there would be a promise to legislate to ensure that all food and drink sold in the United Kingdom will have consistent labelling to “remove any disincentive for suppliers, manufacturers or retailers” to sell goods in Northern Ireland.
The paper said that ministers will be under a legal requirement to assess whether any new legislation could impact trade between Northern Ireland and Britain.
The government said the measures will “future-proof the constitutional status of Northern Ireland against any future agreements that create new EU law alignment for Northern Ireland and undermine its place in the UK’s internal market”.
The changes are expected to be agreed by the UK-EU Joint Committee which oversees Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading rules.
The UK government will also introduce two pieces of legislation to guarantee Northern Irish goods can be sold in Great Britain in all circumstances, and to confirm Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.
The latest deal further reduces the need for routine checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain and staying there, in effect the new deal maximises the flexibility allowed under the existing Windsor Framework without changing any of the agreement’s fundamental elements.
