Clash looms over Irish border trade

BREXIT: The Government is heading for a clash with the EU after it published a document outlining minimal checks on goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Government said processes on goods moving between them will be kept to an “absolute minimum” at the end of the Brexit transition period.

THE GOVERNMENT is heading for a fresh clash with the EU after it published a new document outlining only minimal checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In guidance published yesterday, the UK Government said processes on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will be kept to an “absolute minimum” following the end of the Brexit transition period.

Some “checks” supported by electronic processes will be needed on agri-food movements from Great Britain, building on what is already happening at ports like Larne and Belfast, ministers acknowledged.

But the implementation of rules designed to keep Northern Ireland’s land border with the Republic and the EU’s internal market free-flowing will not involve new customs infrastructure, the document said.

This is likely to face opposition from the EU, which wants more stringent checks on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in order to protect the integrity of the EU single market, as the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will remain open under the deal already signed between the EU and the UK.

The Government said there will be no tariffs on goods remaining within the UK customs territory under a position adopted by Britain for negotiation with the EU.

And businesses in Northern Ireland will have “unfettered” access to sell goods to the rest of the UK market under the plan.

The Northern Ireland part of the Brexit deal is supposed to be implemented even if a trade agreement cannot be struck with the EU before the end of this year.

Businesses in Northern Ireland are expecting to undergo checks on goods being brought in from the rest of the UK.

Making a statement in the Commons, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said: “Subjecting traders to unnecessary and disproportionate burdens, particularly as we wrestle with the economic consequences of Covid-19, would not serve the interests of the people of Northern Ireland for whom the protocol was designed.”

But Shadow Cabinet Office minister and Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves said that “many fear” the Government is not willing to admit the full extent of additional checks and tariffs on goods.

She said: “We welcome the statement today but it does expose the broken promises made by the Prime Minister. Today there has been an admission, for the first time, that there will be additional checks, that there will be tariffs on goods at risk of entering the single market.”

Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster has welcomed “clarity” with the publication.

It comes as International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said postBrexit arrangements will bolster Yorkshire’s steel industry.

During the second reading of the Trade Bill, referring to how the UK would be able to sign a free trade agreement with the USA, Ms Truss said: “The US imposes tariffs of 25 per cent on steel, removing those would boost our domestic industries. This will particularly benefit areas like Yorkshire and Humber, which account for more than a third of our iron and steel exports to the United States.

“Indeed, just this week, UK Steel said ‘a new US-UK free trade agreement will provide a significant boost to our trade in this high value market, creating a global competitive advantage for UK steel producers and opening up valuable new export opportunities’.”

It does expose the broken promises made by the Prime Minister.

Shadow Cabinet Office minister and Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves.