NI business left in dark about Brexit protocol

Local business leaders have been given no opportunity to give their views on how the NI part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement should work in practice.

“We have had no involvement, no engagement,” Ulster Farmers’ Union chief executive Wesley Aston told a meeting of MPs last week.

The protocol on Ireland/NI effectively replaced the Irish backstop as part of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. A “specialised committee” of UK and EU officials has been set up to decide how the protocol is to be implemented.

As soon as there is the potential to create differences between GB and NI then there obviously will be additional bureaucracy and administration costs

Aston pointed out that while the old backstop arrangement would have effectively applied to the whole of the UK (as it involved a customs union with the EU), the new protocol will only apply to NI.

“As soon as there is the potential to create differences between GB and NI then there obviously will be additional bureaucracy and administration costs associated with that,” he said.

Local business leaders want UK and EU officials to involve them in deciding how the protocol should work, particularly on how checks on goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland are carried out.

There is potential for advantages

MPs were told that the impact of the protocol will depend on what UK and EU officials agree, as well as the outcome separate UK-EU trade negotiations and how much Britain diverges from EU rules on standards.

“There is potential for advantages, but there is potential to make NI a much more difficult place to be. We could be seen to be the worst of all worlds, rather the best of all worlds,” Aston said.

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