Gove admits trade issues in NI not just ‘teething problems’
Michael Gove has admitted Northern Ireland post-brexit trade disruption is not just “teething problems”.
The senior UK Government minister admitted there were “serious issues” with businesses struggling to send food and animal products to Northern Ireland due to complicated new rules and paperwork.
Answering an Urgent Question from the Labour Party on the Northern Ireland Protocol, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster explained the problems would not go away unless the EU and Britain took action.
He said: "In the short term, there are a number of issues which I would not describe as teething problems.
"They are significant issues which bear on the lives of people in Northern Ireland, which do need to be resolved.
"We do need to make sure that grace periods are extended and we do need to make sure that supermarkets and other traders can continue, as they are at the moment, to supply consumerswith the goods that they need.
"There are a number of very specific issues and they extend to, as I mentioned earlier, everything from pet passports to the provision and plants and seeds to gardens in Northern Ireland.
"The daily life of our fellow citizens does need to be protected and we must deal with all of these questions."
Mr Gove explained the UK Government now hope to extend the grace periods agreed by theukandeu for certain elements of Northern Irish trade, but did not say which.
A three-month grace period relieving traders of the need to fill in export health certificates is set to expire on April 1.
His comments come less than a month on from the Prime Minister dismissing the issues to the Liaison Committee of MPS.
Speaking on january 13, boris Johnson said: "Yes, I am not going to deny down that there are teething problems, and there are issues that we need to sort out but the deal has been of great, great assistance to our businesses in smoothing this."
One week later the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis insisted the Government had no plans to extend the grace periods.
The SNP’S newly appointed International Trade spokesperson Drew Hendry MP has accused the UK Government of lying to businesses.