Irish Sea Border: No end to checks envisaged in National Audit Office report - with permanent infrastructure in place by 2025

The National Audit Office (NAO) says that the cost of supporting Northern Ireland businesses navigate the trade border will top half a billion pounds by the end of this year – and permanent border inspection posts will be delivered by July 2025.

It comes after the News Letter revealed on Saturday that the government will no longer release information on the number of checks carried out.

The watchdog’s report looks at UK government preparations for its trade border around Great Britain.

Commitments made under the Windsor Framework to ease checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain will become active in October.

The NAO report says benefits under the UK internal market scheme (green lane) will be expanded and “authorised traders can benefit from a simplified dataset for moving ‘not at risk’ goods from GB to NI”.

In the government’s Safeguarding the Union deal with the DUP, it claimed that it will “remove checks when goods move within the UK internal market system except those conducted by UK authorities and required as part of a risk-based or intelligence-led approach to tackle criminality, abuse of the scheme, smuggling and disease risks”. The deal also commits to refocusing DAERA “identity checks” to the red lane.

Selling the deal, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson went further, saying there would be “zero checks, zero paperwork” on goods staying in the UK.

The NAO say there will be a “reduction of identity checks for SPS goods” but an expansion of ‘Not for EU’ labelling requirements to include all dairy products.

A further reduction of checks is due by 2025 – but there is no mention of any end to checks on the green lane.

The News Letter revealed on Saturday that the government will no longer release information on the number of checks conducted – it says to protect the green lane scheme.

As part of the Safeguarding the Union deal to restore devolution, powers were handed over to the UK government from local departments such as DAERA.

DEFRA minister Lord Douglas-Miller said “in order not to undermine” the government’s approach to tackling criminality, abuse of the scheme, smuggling and disease risks “we do not disclose the specific number or nature of interventions made by UK authorities”.

His comments were in response to a question from Baroness Hoey, who told the News Letter: “Those of us who are seeking the truth from the government are more and more finding that they want to hide the facts.

“This really is pretty extraordinary and shows that they’ve got something to hide”.

​The NAO report also said that the government has no clear timetable to fully implement its post-Brexit border controls between Great Britain and the EU. The UK has said it hopes to have the “world's most effective border” by 2025, but the NAO said the strategy “lacks a clear timetable and an integrated cross-government delivery plan”, with individual departments responsible for implementing different aspects.

A much more defined timetable for Northern Ireland’s arrangements were laid out in the Windsor Framework, requirements the EU says is necessary to protect its single market.