Sir Jeffrey Donaldson backs 'privileged access' to EU market - but wants unnecessary customs checks gone

Mr Donaldson also repeated his belief that goods coming into NI should not be “subject to unnecessary customs checks, delays and costs”.

The DUP leader said that talks with the government will continue this week – and that the party has a “very full agenda”. He said if the government wants to reach agreement, further progress must be made “on a number of key areas”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Joel Taggart, Mr Donaldson was asked about Sammy Wilson’s response to the call in his his New Year message for “retaining access to the EU single market” – something the DUP leader said wasn’t mutually exclusive with EU market access.

Mr Wilson told the News Letter that market access is a choice – and it’s not possible to have full or “pure” access to both.

Sir Jeffrey said: “Our priority is to restore Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom and its internal market – that’s what we said in our Assembly manifesto in 2022. We haven’t at any stage demurred or deviated from that objective. But I am also clear that in so doing, we also want to ensure that businesses in NI that trade with the EU – and we do over £8 billion worth of business with the EU each year. Many NI businesses rely on that trade, for example Coca Cola in my constituency who employ over 600 people in Lisburn. 80% of the goods that they sell – that are made in Lisburn – are sold in the Republic of Ireland in the EU”.

Sir Jeffrey was asked by Mr Taggart if that would be “compromised access to the EU market as Sammy Wilson described it?” Mr Donaldson responded “I prefer to call it privileged access to the EU”. He said that over half the economy in NI is based on services not manufactured goods – and pointed out that for services NI is not “aligned” to the EU single market. “So the idea that we are in the single market – that we have full access to the single market for services for example – we operate on a UK-wide basis for services. I want to ensure that on goods our ability to trade with the rest of the UK and its internal market is restored. And that we maintain privileged access for our businesses to the EU.”

Asked if Sammy Wilson is right that “pure” access to both markets isn’t possible, Sir Jeffrey said “You can’t be both in the EU single market and in the UK internal market. What you can be is in the UK internal market and have privileged access to the EU single market”.

He denied that the markets are mutually exclusive: “How can that be the case? We can continue to trade with the EU on a privileged basis as we do at the moment for goods. But we can have our ability to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom properly restored. That means for example Joel, where goods are moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland and staying within the United Kingdom, those goods should not be subject to customs checks. They are not at risk of going into the EU”.

He said that the party had unanimously – including Mr Wilson – put a position to the UK government. He declined to say whether Mr Wilson is wrong – and said he hadn’t contradicted the party’s position of restoring “NI’s place within the UK and its internal market – and at the same time to maintain privileged access for our businesses to the EU single market”. He said the party has never used the word “pure” – with regard to market access – in any of its manifestos or statements.

Sir Jeffrey said access to the EU market “should not compromise our ability to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom – so that we’re selling our goods to Great Britain. We can do so with unfettered access. Where we’re receiving goods from Great Britain that we are not subject to unnecessary customs checks, delays and costs. Those are our objectives Joel, I can’t be clearer than that”.

Responding to comments by the Secretary of State that the government’s talks with the DUP have concluded, the Lagan Valley MP said: "As far as we are concerned, the talking is not done. There are issues that need to be resolved and we will keep pressing the government on those issues”.

He continued: “I will be talking to the UK government this week – and the idea that they’re not willing to talk is simply not true. They are content to continue those discussions with us – they know the issues that need to be resolved – they are working on those at the moment. We hope to hear from them when we meet them this week on what further progress has been made. So whatever is said for the optics, the reality I can assure you in terms of those discussions is – we continue to engage with the government and they continue to engage with us on the issues that need to be resolved”.