Brexit blow as Northern Irish business to face extra checks on trade
Northern Irish business will face additional barriers to trade with Britain after Brexit, despite Boris Johnson’s promises to the contrary, the Government admitted on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson said Northern Ireland’s businesses could throw customs declarations forms “in the bin” because there would be no “no barriers of any kind” to trade crossing the Irish Sea in November after negotiating the Withdrawal Agreement with Brussels.
Michael Gove told the House of Commons that Northern Irish traders would not face new import declarations and administrative requirements on goods they were exporting elsewhere in the UK but he admitted that would be subject to the EU agreeing to that system.
“There will need to be declarations on goods, as they are moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. But these systems will be electronic and administered by UK authorities,” Mr Gove said.
The Cabinet minister admitted that existing customs infrastructure in places like Larne and Belfast would need to be expanded. There would have to be more checks in the agriculture and food sector to ensure animals met EU standards, he said.
While existing customs infrastructure would have to be expanded, no new posts would be built, Mr Gove said.
“There is no such case however, for new customs infrastructure. And as such, there will not be any,” the cabinet minister said.
The Prime Minister agreed that Northern Ireland would stay part of the EU’s customs territory after Brexit to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. Under the terms of the deal, the border is effectively moved to the Irish Sea rather than risk the inflammatory return of guards and checks to the land border.
Labour’s Rachel Reeves said the new protocol meant “a significant escalation” in customs checks and would need a brand new border management system.
She said the new Government paper exposed “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,” the shadow cabinet member said.
“Even now, many fear that the Government are not willing to admit the full extent of those.”
Mr Gove said that no tariffs would be paid on goods imported into Northern Ireland from mainland Britain that did not travel on to EU territory, except some at risk of entering EU territory.
He added that there would only be tariffs on British goods imported to Northern Ireland which were at risk of entering the Single Market, if ongoing UK-EU trade negotiations failed.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, responded furiously to a letter from David Frost, his British counterpart, criticising the bloc’s offer of a zero tariff trade deal.
After the last round of negotiations ended in mutual recrimination, Mr Frost wrote to Mr Barnier on Tuesday. He said, “What is on offer is not a fair free trade agreement between close economic partners but a relatively low quality trade agreement coming with unprecedented EU oversight of our laws and institutions.”
“[An exchange of letters] cannot be a substitute for serious engagement and detailed negotiations,” Mr Barnier scolded. “I would not like the tone that you have taken to impact the mutual trust and constructive attitude that is essential between us.”
Britain argues that EU demands for level playing field guarantees on tax, state aid, labour rights and the environment, are far stricter than those asked from countries like Canada. The EU says the stricter guarantees are needed to guarantee fair competition due to the proximity of the UK market.
“Just as we do not accept selective benefits in the Single Market without the corresponding obligations, we also do not accept cherry picking from our past agreements,” Mr Barnier said, “The EU is looking to the future, not to the past, in these negotiations,”
