Truss plan to boost NI trade ‘too expensive’

LIZ TRUSS’S plan to entice 200 British businesses back into trading in Northern Ireland by offering them tax cuts has been dropped amid opposition by Rishi Sunak over the costs of the scheme.

The Foreign Secretary had drawn up plans for an “economic stimulus package” and trading “green lanes” to make the territory attractive to firms in the rest of the UK, despite issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol.

While Boris Johnson has stressed he is prepared to trigger Article 16, an emergency clause that would suspend the protocol, Ms Truss believed that her plan could ease the situation temporarily in the hope that a political agreement could be reached over border checks.

She presented the ideas in a letter to Mr Johnson last month. But a Whitehall source said the Treasury did not “buy” the proposals or believe they would work.

Another source denied that the proposals were discussed with the department.

The Whitehall source said the package of tax cuts would need to be “huge” to encourage the 200 businesses that have suspended trading in Northern Ireland over the protocol issues to return.