Economy minister says Windsor Framework is accelerating an all-Ireland economy and DUP deal commitment will have 'little effect'

The Sinn Fein minister also said investors want people to “come to terms with the new arrangements” for trade here, and that the Safeguarding the Union deal was more about providing ‘comfort’ than having any practical effect.

Mr Murphy said economic links across the island of Ireland had developed organically in recent years, and predicted that growth would accelerate in the time ahead, regardless of the contents of the Government’s Safeguarding the Union command paper.The paper pledges to repeal a section of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 that requires ministers to have regard to the ‘all-island economy’.The command paper said the section of the legislation was a source of concern for unionists, claiming it could have a “long-term distorting legal effect” that detracted from the Government’s “actual priority” to protect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market and customs territory.The issue was raised by the SDLP’s Matthew O’Toole in the Assembly on Monday. He opposition leader asked Mr Murphy: “What action is he going to take to ensure that they don’t go ahead with that objectionable action?”The economy minister said: “The fact is that the British government’s legal obligations in terms of that are something which I find difficult to find a measure of”. He added: “The all-Ireland economy was growing anyway, organically. And the figures show that cross-border trade between 2015 and 2022 has gone from 2.8 billion euros to 10.2 billion euros.“So, regardless of what the British government were doing or not doing, there is a clear sense of growth there. I think that will only accelerate in terms of the new trading arrangements (under the Protocol and Windsor Framework) that have managed to come from that.“And, so, I think, like a lot of others, I saw a lot of rhetoric related to the command paper, which was clearly designed to give comfort to people but in practical terms have very little effect.”Mr Murphy said his department will continue to promote the all-Ireland economy “because it makes sense economically for the whole island, just as we will promote east west trade, because that makes sense economically as well.“And we will continue to try and press home the advantages that we have as part of that and create some sense of certainty. And, I say this very clearly – any attempt to create continued uncertainty around our trading arrangements will be damaging both in terms of our own indigenous companies and their desire to export but also in terms of attracting inward investment as well.“And so I think what we need to do, and certainly a very clear message I’ve been getting from business both at home and internationally, is they want to see certainty, that certainly established, for things to settle down, and for people to come to terms with the new arrangements in the time ahead.”

The UK government has refused to say when it will legislate on removing the obligation for ministers to have regard to the all-island economy. The DUP says it meets regularly with the UK Government as part of the implementation process. A spokesperson said: “Further specific legislative measures, across a number of commitments, are required and subject to the Parliamentary timetable we expect them to be tabled in due course as agreed. Other non-legislative measures will also be progressed by the Government in accordance with the timelines discussed”.