Government to accept Lord Murphy's recommendations on smoothing Irish Sea border trade - and will actively promote 'dual market access'
The Government is due to accept all the recommendations from a review set up to examine the workings of the Irish Sea border – with a focus on helping business navigate the complex arrangements.
The Independent Review of the Windsor Framework was conducted by former Northern Ireland Secretary Lord Murphy, and was initiated after the post-Brexit trade deal failed to get cross community support in the Assembly last year.
Lord Murphy published his recommendations in September, setting out steps which arguing that “there is no doubt” businesses have “taken on a considerable number of extra burdens”.
He recommended ways to simplify administrative processes for businesses and improve regulatory clarity.
Lord Murphy’s report also backed the concept of dual market access, saying that both the UK government and Stormont Executive should “emphasise and publicise” its “commercial benefits”.
The concept has been contested by unionists, because of the disruption to internal UK trade, particularly for the manufacturing industry.
The Government is expected to act on all his recommendations, focusing on delivering support to businesses.
This will include £16.6 million in funding allocated at the Budget to “deliver an enhanced ‘one stop shop’ advice service for small businesses and new funding for Intertrade UK, to boost trade within the UK”.
So-called dual market access will be promoted “at home and abroad” and the Assembly will be given “greater flexibility to scrutinise EU regulations”.
Last month, Lord Murphy told Stormont’s economy committee that during his review, larger businesses had told him there were advantages “they would very gladly exploit”.
However, he said that the majority of businesses in Northern Ireland are medium and smaller businesses, and for them, dual market access is “less significant than the internal market” between NI and GB.
The former Labour minister, who now sits in the House of Lords, also said that if the whole of the United Kingdom had remained part of the EU single market “none of this would have been necessary”.