As long as Protocol exists, NI will keep on drifting from GB

Yesterday, top civil servant Sue Gray published her report into parties at Number 10.

The fall-out from that document will continue for weeks, but Boris Johnson and his government have already launched their political fightback.

The PM is unveiling a range of policies, labelled ‘Operation Red Meat’ by the media, that appeals to traditional Conservative voters. A so-called ‘Brexit freedom bill’ will be central to this project.

Johnson claims that the legislation, which should make it easier to remove old EU laws, will “unleash the benefits” of leaving the single market and customs union.

In essence, this is a ‘bonfire of red tape’ that the Tories claim will save British businesses £1 billion. Johnson hopes it will address the concerns of some critics, including the former minister Lord Frost, who say that the government has not exploited Brexit aggressively enough by slashing bureaucracy and limiting regulations.

For Northern Ireland, this bill is likely to emphasise how much we have been distanced from the rest of the UK by the Northern Ireland Protocol.

While ministers in Scotland and Wales are attacking the government for ‘undermining devolution’ by threatening to change the law in these regions directly at Westminster, many of the freedom bill’s provisions are unlikely to come to Northern Ireland.

The Protocol keeps us in the single market for goods and agriculture, so many EU rules will continue to apply, even while they are stripped away in Great Britain.

The Ulster Farmers’ Union has already pointed out that its members are likely to miss out on the benefits of new UK trade deals.

And, as the rest of the country moves further away from the EU’s rules and regulations, Northern Ireland will become ever more isolated from the political and economic mainstream if the Protocol is allowed to continue.