UK-EU deal will soften the Irish Sea border - but Brussels intends to keep Windsor Framework as a guarantee

​The full details of parts the agreement are yet to be hammered out, but Great Britain will largely follow EU veterinary rules, meaning checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK should be greatly reduced.

However, the Windsor Framework will stay in place – even in the areas where it will become effectively redundant because Great Britain will be operating the same rules as EU-controlled Northern Ireland.

Detailed negotiations on the legal text of the agreement will now get underway with a final agreement expected in months rather than years.

At the moment, 10% of agri-food products entering Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework are subject to identity checks – with a smaller number of physical checks also required. Under the deal, they will go.

Arrangements such as the NI Plant Labelling scheme will ultimately be scrapped – and products such as plants, seeds and agricultural machinery will be able to move into Northern Ireland from Great Britain on largely the same terms as they did prior to Brexit.

However, the constitutional arrangements which separate Northern Ireland out from the rest of the UK in relation to these aspects of the goods market will remain in place, despite the UK government effectively outsourcing its responsibility to set standards to Europe.

The EU will still control access to Northern Ireland’s ports and border posts will remain. Aspects of the Windsor Framework which will ultimately become redundant under the new deal will continue to be implemented in the interim, as the UK seeks to prove its credentials as a reliable partner to Brussels.

That means the government will press ahead with a costly not-for-EU labelling scheme in Northern Ireland. A national scheme was scrapped after objections from GB-based businesses about the cost. It was devised to protect the EU single market from British products.

It appears that the UK has made major concessions on EU fishing rights in British waters in return for better access to Europe for Britain’s agri-food sector.

However, GB’s alignment with EU rules is understood to be a permanent deal – while the fishing agreement is up for renewal in 2038.

Northern Ireland doesn’t appear to have been much of a factor in the discussions, but where the deal smooths access for British businesses selling to Europe, it will do the same for trade with Northern Ireland.

Speaking to the media at the UK-EU Summit, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said: “Together with the Windsor Framework, this will also bring additional benefits for Northern Ireland. It will further ease the movement of agri-food goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland will continue to enjoy dual access to both the EU single market and the UK internal market”.

The Irish Sea border remains as the constitutional arrangements underpinning it were not up for discussion, and the province will still be treated as part of the EU single market.

But reducing checks on GB goods entering Dublin or Calais or will also reduce checks on the same goods entering Belfast or Larne. SPS checks – checks on animal and food products – form a major part of the Irish Sea border trade disruption within the UK.

While there is a lot of focus on the so-called UK internal market, it only exists on the basis of respecting the fact that the EU controls Northern Ireland’s goods trade. That won’t change, but the level of bureaucracy should reduce as Great Britain agri-food standards are formally accepted by the EU.

Documents leaked to the Daily Telegraph newspaper show that the Great Britain will have “dynamic alignment” with EU rules, and therefore will be in line with Northern Ireland.

There will be no change for Northern Ireland’s firms exporting to the EU, where unfettered access already exists.

However, the SPS checks at the EU-controlled border posts in Northern Ireland are only part of a wider issue. The UK is split into two regulatory zones, down the Irish Sea.

The latest deal does not cover customs – so paperwork for importing goods from the rest of the UK into Northern Ireland will remain in place. As will a raft of other EU rules, including the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). It has meant online retailers pulling out of selling to Northern Ireland because the level of bureaucracy made it unworkable.

Concerns about a ‘carbon border’ under the Windsor Framework appear to have disappeared under the new deal. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) had become a growing concern for politicians at Stormont as it had the potential to further harden the border and become a barrier for a huge range of goods.

CBAM ensures imported goods are taxed at a rate similar to domestically produced goods – to address the issue of businesses attempting to circumnavigate EU carbon rules by producing goods outside the trading bloc.

The UK government has already announced plans for its own version of CBAM, which would have lessened the potential impact. However, the new deal means the two markets are aligned – reducing the need for EU tariffs on goods moving between GB an NI.