Naomi Long: Labelling goods ‘for NI only’ could solve checks problem

On the eve of her party’s annual conference in Belfast, Naomi Long proposed several practical changes to the protocol that could smooth the passage of goods and services from Britain to Northern Ireland.

Mrs Long (pictured) also called for a “bespoke” EU-UK veterinary agreement which she claimed would reduce checks on animals crossing the Irish Sea by between 80 to 90%.

She said there were “pragmatic solutions” that could be reached between the UK and the EU that would end the protocol impasse and ease the flow of medicines, food stuffs, animals and other goods coming in from Britain.

On labelling, Mrs Long said: “We have argued very strongly that goods that are coming into Northern Ireland whose end use is only in Northern Ireland should not have to be subject to the same level of checks as goods that are transiting through here into the EU market.”

She rejected claims that labelling ‘Northern Ireland Only’ on the former type of goods would be too costly for business and industry.

“I find it slightly hard to comprehend because if Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Asda can stick a label on a dinner to say ‘Three for Two’ and it doesn’t cause them any difficulty I don’t think it would cause any difficulty either.”