UK extends Irish Sea border grace periods - Arlene Foster calls for ‘permanent solution’

Certification requirements will then be introduced in phases alongside the rollout of a digital assistance scheme, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis revealed.

Businesses in Northern Ireland have been pressing for an extension to avoid a cliff-edge plunge into extra bureaucracy linked to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

First Mininister Arlene Foster said she now wants to see the government go further and find “permanent solutions” to problems raised by the protocol.

She said: “This is indicative of the problems the protocol is causing and really it points to the need to find more permanent solutions because the protocol has been rejected by every unionist in Northern Ireland.

“We were coming up to the end of March which was a critical point in relation to some grace period and therefore there was a need to deal with that issue. “Europe has so far refused to deal with that issue and it would have caused a huge amount of difficulties for us at our ports, so there was a need to deal with that. But now it also indicates that they can go further and we need to see permanent solutions for what is happening.”

But Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill criticised the move.

“The EU and the British government need to work together and this appears to be another unilateral attempt to override what has been agreed,” she said.

“It’s very clear the protocol must be made to work.”

Aodhán Connolly of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium said the government move would allow “us to continue to give Northern Ireland households the choice and affordability they need”.

Extending the grace periods delivered “short-term stability,” he added.

“We now need the EU and the UK to show that they have the political will to live up to their side of the bargain by delivering a pragmatic, workable, risk-based solution.”

In his statement yesterday Brandon Lewis said: “As part of the pragmatic and proportionate implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the Government is taking several temporary operational steps to avoid disruptive cliff edges as engagement with the EU continues through the Joint Committee.

“These recognise that appropriate time must be provided for businesses to implement new requirements, and support the effective flow of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”

Mr Lewis said: “For supermarkets and their suppliers, as part of the operational plan the UK committed to at the UK-EU Joint Committee on February 24, the current Scheme for Temporary Agri-food Movements to Northern Ireland (STAMNI) will continue until October 1.

“Certification requirements will then be introduced in phases alongside the rollout of the Digital Assistance Scheme.”

He said further guidance will be provided later this week on parcel movements from GB to NI, to provide necessary additional time for traders beyond April 1.

“Guidance will also be set out to help address practical problems on soil attached to the movement of plants, seeds, bulbs, vegetables and agricultural machinery.”

The first of the grace periods had been due to expire at the end of March.

Supermarkets would have had to produce Export Health Certificates for all shipments of animal products.