Intertrade UK: UUP calls for Irish Sea border body to be 'truly' UK-wide - after body gets funding boost
A trade body set up to iron out problems caused by the Irish Sea border should be expanded to include representatives from outside Northern Ireland if it is to be “truly Intertrade UK” – Lord Empey has said.
The Ulster Unionist peer’s comments come after the government allocated £2.25 million to the body last week – after concerns that it did not have an allocated budget.
Intertrade UK’s chair Baroness Foster welcomed the funding – announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s budget – saying it would be used “to deliver tangible results” on improving trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
However, Lord Empey has questioned why the organisation is dominated by by business experts from Northern Ireland. In a letter to the Secretary of State Hilary Benn, Sir Reg said he “cannot understand why the Board Members (I know them all and they are excellent people) come exclusively from Northern Ireland”.
He said the problems being facing business “are faced primarily by businesses based in GB trying to trade with Northern Ireland. Surely it would make sense to have additional board members from the other regions/nations of the UK if the body is to be truly ‘Intertrade UK’?”
The UUP peer cited testimony given in parliament last week in which one haulier said that three of its customers had given up sending goods to Northern Ireland.
“They told us of their current difficulties in moving goods from GB to NI and showed us examples of the paperwork involved, which, with the introduction by the EU of ICS 2, has made things worse”, he told Mr Benn in a letter sent last week.
After Brexit, successive UK governments have decided that Northern Ireland would be best served by effectively remaining within the EU’s single market for goods, while the rest of the UK has left and is free to set its own trade policy. That policy was aimed at keeping an open border on the island of Ireland, but has created an internal border within the UK.
Goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain face increasing bureaucracy – particularly if they don’t fall under special schemes for retailers. There is constant uncertainty about what changes in EU laws will mean for companies based in Great Britain, who sell into NI. Some companies have decided to withdraw from the Northern Ireland market entirely.
Intertrade UK was established under the Safeguarding the Union deal between the last Conservative government and the DUP, as part of a package which restored the devolved institutions at Stormont. Its purpose is to promote trade within the UK, under the current Windsor Framework arrangements.
A recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the Ulster Unionist Party shows that the expert panel also receives no pay for their work – and receives admin support from a small number of staff from within the Northern Ireland Office (NIO). It also said that there was no allocated budget for Intertrade UK.
However, since that FOI was released by the NIO, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced the allocation of £2.25 million in funding for Intertrade UK, with £750,000 to be allocated for each of the next three financial years.
The government said the funding forms part of a wider £16.6 million “package of measures to strengthen the UK internal market and help Northern Ireland boost trade with Great Britain, including a comprehensive ‘one stop shop’ business support service”.
Reacting to that announcement, Intertrade UK Chair Baroness Arlene Foster said: “Intertrade UK will now consider next steps on how best to use this new funding to deliver tangible results for improving trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
“Our focus remains on listening to and engaging with business as we develop practical, evidence-based recommendations to remove barriers to intra-UK trade, while promoting and facilitating internal market opportunities for businesses in every part of our country”.
She also welcomed the “internal market support package” and ‘one stop shop’ business support service.
“This will be vital in helping businesses to navigate the Windsor Framework - a key recommendation we made in our recent letter of advice to the Secretary of State”, Baroness Foster said.