Letter: If we continue talking down the potential opportunities presented by the Windsor Framework we will make a bad situation worse

Owen Polley’s factual account of the Lords’ Windsor Framework report, published by its Sub-Committee on the Protocol, (‘Windsor Framework will make sea border worse,’ July 25, see below) is welcome but fails to provide a balanced view of the framework’s potential benefits.

The government’s Command paper in February alluded to the potential opportunities for significant economic growth in Northern Ireland but this House of Lords report points the finger directly at the UK government to deliver on its promises.

The report states that ‘the government and the EU must redouble their efforts to educate businesses and stakeholders in Great Britain and in the EU about the unique benefits of Northern Ireland’s dual market access’.

These ‘unique benefits’ must now be defined in detail and sold to the international markets so that businesses can have certainty and are given a clear roadmap for growth.

I also acknowledge Ben Lowry’s concern regarding the potential complexities of the framework over the coming years. To mitigate this there is an onus on the government to properly fund a body which will review future UK and EU legislation to ensure that any regulatory divergence does not unduly impact businesses here.

The majority of people in Northern Ireland did not vote for Brexit, but we are where we are, and if we continue to talk down the potential opportunities presented by the Windsor Framework we will make a bad situation worse.

Brian Pope, Chartered Civil Engineer and former councillor at ABC Council, Co.Down

Windsor Framework will make Irish Sea border worse than it has been under the NI Protocol