Letter: New mindset needed with laser-like focus on growing NI to GB and GB to NI trade

I'm forced to observe that he, and a few of his senior colleagues, are prominent amongst the authors of our more than seven-year-long Brexit meltdown. His continuing interventions can only be unhelpful and his undeniable talents would be better exercised elsewhere.

It's for Northern Ireland's politicians to decide on the fate of Stormont, it is not a Westminster parlour game.

Lord Frost does, however, identify one extremely important problem, although I fear he offers no realistic solutions. We are seeing, under the Windsor Framework, a significant growth in trade in goods between NI and the Republic, but less growth in goods trade between NI and GB, maybe even a decline.

In the long term this will be damaging to the Union, but what is to be done? Clearly the Windsor Framework is not going to be fundamentally altered. Lord Frost must know this.

But, within the UK, we do have scope to develop mechanisms which can support NI businesses wanting to increase their trade with GB and, perhaps far more importantly, GB businesses which want to start or increase trading in NI. It is in this "real world" that government can intervene and not just protect, but actually help to comprehensively boost, two-way goods trade between NI and GB, despite residual "Irish Sea border" issues. Let us not concentrate primarily on a rearguard action to address the administrative inconveniences remaining under the Windsor Framework, or a concern about EU law affecting trade and limited other matters. Instead, let us develop a whole new mindset with laser-like focus on actually growing NI to GB and GB to NI trade.

Such a mission is too important for the free market alone and must be convened by government.

UK government departments already work in this area, of course, but so much more could be done. Westminster needs to spend vastly more money to help NI producers to get their products to the GB market, and crucially, to help GB producers to explore and exploit opportunities in NI.

What do I mean in practice? Let me give two examples, one specific, one general and overarching:-

Specifically, there was a call recently, by my local MP in England, for Westminster to increase support for our local cheesemakers to export worldwide. A good idea, but I immediately thought, what about supporting those cheesemakers to sell more in NI as well? I do not just mean helping them with Windsor Framework form filling. I mean far more than that, organising meetings and promoting products, paying for more GB producers and trade bodies to visit NI, using government convening power and subsidies to make things happen, doing everything the rules allow.

Moving from the micro to the macro level, we need a master plan, a government target to actually grow two-way NI/GB trade, year on year. Government has numerous targets to unify the whole country economically, like moving civil service jobs from London to the provinces. Why not a target to grow goods trade between NI and GB, services as well, for that matter?

The DUP is currently negotiating with Westminster about the future of the Executive. There is talk of various funding formulae. But, surely, it makes sense for the DUP to ask Westminster to make a hugely increased and permanent funding commitment to economic interventions that will aim to grow and support trade between two parts of our own country?

It makes sense for the future of the Union and there is no EU law that need stop us devising determined, ambitious and innovative ways to do this.

John Gemmell, Shropshire