Government's fresh 'unfettered access' claim rejected by Jim Allister - who says it's the law not press releases that matter
Jim Allister has rejected a claim by the government that medical devices originating in Northern Ireland and moved into Great Britain will have “unfettered access” to the UK market.
The TUV leader had this week warned that Labour’s health bill included a clause treating medical devices entering the mainland from the province as imports.
However, a UK government spokesperson has denied that – and says the issues will be “made clear” in notes accompanying the new law.
“Qualifying Northern Ireland goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain will not be subject to licensing requirements and will continue to enjoy full, unfettered access to the UK internal market.
“The amendment creates powers targeting non-qualifying goods - such as items originating outside the UK or EU routed through Northern Ireland - to prevent any regulatory loopholes.
“Genuine Northern Ireland medical device businesses will face no new licensing requirements, and this will be made clear in the Bill’s explanatory notes”, the government said.
However, Mr Allister says this “does not square” with the legislation that was actually passed by the Labour government at Westminster.
“It does not contain the limitation now claimed. It applies to all medical devices being moved from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.
“It’s the words of the statute, not a press release, which counts”, the North Antrim MP told the News Letter.
Post-Brexit deals meant that a regulatory border was created within the United Kingdom, by leaving Northern Ireland in the European Unions’s single market for goods. However, checks were largely on goods entering local ports, at the EU’s insistence.
When the DUP and the previous Tory government struck a deal to restore Stormont, both parties proclaimed to have secured a “statutory guarantee of Northern Ireland’s unfettered access to the UK’s internal market”.
Mr Allister said that promise has not been realised, with a new law at Westminster highlighting the legal reality of the Irish Sea border – and branded the DUP’s 2024 sea border deal meaningless.