Intertrade UK: The body charged with solving Irish Sea border problems is yet to be given a budget - and will be staffed by the NIO

More than a year on from the announcement in the Safeguarding the Union deal that ​Intertrade UK would be set up – there are now questions about whether it will be properly funded to fulfil its remit.

The experienced panel of business experts – chaired by former first minster Baroness Foster – won’t have its own employees. Instead, a “secretariat function” will be provided by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO). The panel members themselves will not be paid.

The body will have access to Whitehall departments as it attempts to secure solutions for businesses navigating complicated rules under the Windsor Framework. Intertrade UK has already begun to identify issues with various sectors.

Baroness Foster told the News Letter: “We are developing a programme of work which will see us interacting with a broad range of bodies and businesses.

“Our remit is very much trade within the UK and we are developing a base line over the next couple of weeks so that we can then move forward to look at the challenges and opportunities of doing business within the UK”.

However, the TUV has contrasted it to Intertrade Ireland’s resource spend of over £6.4 million, independent staff of more than 50 and legal standing.

Leader Jim Allister says Intertrade UK will “have to make do” with a secretariat provided by “Protocol fanatics” in the NIO.

Civil servants will facilitate meetings of the body and coordinate efforts across Whitehall to “support individual projects and research”, the News Letter understands.

While there was an intention for the panel to meet quarterly it is understood that it will meet every two months, with a finalised programme of work – including a budget – currently in development.

In the Safeguarding the Union command paper, a commitment was made to explore how Intertrade UK “can provide the information and clarification that businesses need to simplify and reduce unnecessary burdens in making their goods and services available in all parts of the UK”.

It was also tasked with overseeing a commitment “that more than 80% of all freight movements from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will be treated as ‘not at risk’ of moving onwards to the EU, and therefore [move] within the UK internal market and customs territory”.

The current Labour government says the body will “help counter any real barriers and misconceptions businesses and traders in Great Britain may have about providing goods and services in Northern Ireland; and conduct and publish research or other activity designed to advance intra-UK trade”.

Jim Allister said InterTrade UK was “trumpeted by the DUP as a major achievement, one which provided them with cover for their return to Stormont”.

The North Antrim MP told the News Letter: “For months questions about its budget have been dodged in Stormont and now we have confirmation that it doesn’t have one!

“Not only do the members of the board not receive a penny for serving as members but they have no staff, having to make do with a secretariat provided by the Northern Ireland Office who are positively Protocol fanatics.

“Contrast that with the position of Intertrade Ireland which in last week’s Stormont budget were allocated a resource spend of over £6.4 million, has a dedicated and independent staff of more than 50 and has standing in statute.

“One could ask why the DUP accepted such a weak body but in truth we already know the answer. In their rush to return to a Protocol implementing Stormont all they were interested in was something to spin, not something of real substance.”