The Northern Ireland Protocol
The Northern Ireland Protocol is a section of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement agreed in October 2019 which effectively leaves Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods in order to avoid customs & regulatory checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
(*Note there are already many checks between NI & the ROI without the need of a physical frontier — see livestock rules and the transportation of milk)
To achieve this the Protocol sets up customs checks, regulatory checks and agri-food checks on goods within the UK internal market for goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland (and possibly vice versa to a lesser extent from 2022). Northern Ireland must follow EU standards, rules and regulations without any scrutiny in the Northern Ireland Assembly or Westminster.
This has led to products being withdrawn from sale in Northern Ireland either due to EU rules preventing their “importation” as Great Britain is treated as a foreign country or because businesses in GB cannot absorb the new costs and red tape. Products such as chilled meats, seed potatoes and varieties of garden plants are due to be banned. Parcels and online shopping will be subject to EU customs requirements. Pets will now be required to be vaccinated & certified for rabies and tapeworm to travel from one part of the UK to another despite the UK & Ireland being rabies free.
We have seen rioting on the streets of Belfast and regular street protests against the Protocol within the Loyalist community. Every Unionist Party in the Northern Assembly is opposed to the Protocol and the largest party, the DUP, have started to disrupt the North-South institutions of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement and the DUP Agriculture Minister has suspended the construction of EU Border Inspection Posts at NI ports.
The Loyalist Communities Council, the Orange Order, the royal Black Institution and the Apprentice Boys of Derry have voiced their opposition.
The remaining original Unionist signatories to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement have all gone on record that the Protocol breaches the Agreement including Nobel Peace Prize winner Lord Trimble.
It is clear the Protocol is untenable without cross community consent in the Northern Ireland Executive and alternatives must be evaluated and agreed.
The Federation of Small Businesses Northern Ireland previously said “In the past FSB had used its lobbying influence to fight off harmful [EU] regulations.. However under the backstop a huge question arises as to how Northern Ireland businesses could do that in future..” — this applies equally to the democratic deficit of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Simon Hoare MP (Chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee) “there are fundamental questions about the long term viability of the political union of the UK with the protocol in place…doing as it does…creating effectively a trading border within the UK single market. I think it’s time Westminster as a whole woke up to this issue and thought a little bit more about Northern Ireland.”
