Letter: Locally produced goods must remain under EU law, which is not the best way to protect the single market

Although the UK government is unable to give a precise figure, something like half of the goods carried across the land border into the Irish Republic have actually been produced in Northern Ireland.

Obviously, those locally produced goods will avoid whatever EU checks may be applied to goods entering the province from outside, and in the absence of any checks selectively applied just to the minority of goods which are destined for export to the EU it follows that all local production, including production of crisps, must remain under EU law.

This is not the best way to protect the EU Single Market, but it is what the UK government accepted for the sake of securing a low value trade deal with the EU.

Dr D R Cooper, Maidenhead, Berkshire