Northern Ireland Protocol: Even a committee of pro-EU peers see pitfalls from Windsor Framework, says TUV

The committee published a report on the economic, political, legal and constitutional impact of the WF deal struck by London and Brussels earlier this year.

The framework sought to cut the bureaucracy on trade between GB and NI created by the protocol.

It sought to achieve this by the creation of red and green lanes that differentiated between goods whose end destination was NI and those due for onward transport into the EU single market over the Irish border.

The DUP has been blocking devolution at Stormont for over a year in protest at the internal UK trade barriers created by the protocol.

The Lords report found the framework’s benefits included the eased movement of retail goods; agri-food produce, including chilled meats; parcels; pets; and human medicines via the green lane.

However, peers cautioned that for some businesses the processes under the framework will be “more burdensome” than under the protocol.

Peers said there was an underlying fear that NI will find itself in a “no-man’s land” between GB and the EU, a scenario that would place the competitiveness of NI firms and their complex supply chains in jeopardy.

The inquiry also heard that regulatory divergence between GB and the EU, and therefore between GB and NI, remains the “number one concern” for businesses – and that new laws in either the EU or GB will, over time, lead to growing differences in the rules businesses face in each of those jurisdictions.

Giving his party's reaction, TUV party treasurer councillor Timothy Gaston noted that those who compiled the report were mainly anti-Brexit in outlook.

“One would not expect a House of Lords committee dominated by Remainers to produce anything which reinforced the unionist position on the protocol. Nevertheless, that is exactly what the report published today on the Windsor Framework does,” he said.

He claimed that the “spin” from the prime minister and secretary of state has been “totally exposed” by a report which highlights that:

l In important respects, and in particular for the non-retail sector, the WF will be “more burdensome” than the protocol;

l GB retailers will be able to use the green lane to supply NI but this could place local businesses – which must still need to comply with EU rules – at a competitive disadvantage in their own market;

l The WF will primarily reduce EU import red tape for supermarket retail goods coming into NI from GB – but most other goods coming in will be subject to full EU customs import bureaucracy;

l Concerns that arrangements for medicine imports poses “a risk both to animal and human health, and to agri-food supply chains”;

l A lack of clarity on how the tests will be met for to use the so-called ‘Stormont brake’;

l There has been “no substantive change to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s role as the final arbiter of EU law” in NI.

Giving his reaction, DUP MP Sammy Wilson also highlighted how the committee of pro-EU peers had come to the same conclusions as unionists about the WF.

“​Six months ago with great fanfare, the Windsor Framework was announced as resolving all the problems of the Northern Ireland Protocol," he said.

“The prime minister claimed that it did away with any impact of a border in the Irish Sea, and that NI was now fully integrated into the UK single market. Nothing can be further from the truth.”

He too noted the peers behind the report were mostly “sympathetic” to the government and the EU.

“Yet it has found that major problems will still remain for traders and for trade with NI. They talk about NI becoming a no-man's land, that independent retailers in NI could find themselves at a disadvantage with GB retailers and that many products will be subject to costly border controls – the prime minister told a tissue of lies to the Commons.”