Unionist alarm as clauses to protect Northern Ireland are dropped in UK-EU border trade deal

The development came as the UK and EU reached a deal on the thorny issue of trade and borders, in which Northern Ireland has been central.

There was deep concern that the government dropped clauses from the Internal Markets Bill, which had reassured Northern Ireland of certain limits to the coming Irish Sea border.

However the UK now says it is willing to withdraw them because of an “agreement in principle” on a range of issues affecting Northern Ireland.

Ulster Unionst leader Steve Aiken said the way Northern Ireland had been treated during the talks had been “disgraceful”.

He added that he hopes the EU and UK government will now “at least have the decency” to share details of the deal with local businesses quickly, to allow them to prepare.

He said questions still remain around potential costs of transferring goods from from GB to NI and what has been agreed on border control posts. As such, he said, it is “hard to see today as anything other than a further attack on the principle of consent, and the very foundations of the Belfast Agreement itself”.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson told MPs that the NI clauses in the Internal Market Bill were critical because the Withdrawal Agreement without them will be “poison”.

Ulster Unionist peer Lord Empey said the deal had been an agreement on “the implementation of a border in the Irish Sea” and he blamed the DUP for agreeing a regulatory border with Boris Johnson in October 2019 (the PM later imposed a customs border, which the DUP opposed).

“Can [Arlene Foster] now explain why the DUP didn`t block this proposal in October 2019 when they held the balance of power in the House of Commons?

First Minister Mrs Foster yesterday tacitly acknowledged that she too was in the dark on the implications of the deal.

“For us the important issue on all of these matters is that we have unfettered access from Northern Ireland into Great Britain, but also that trade from Great Britain into Northern Ireland can trade freely as well, so we await to see what has happened in relation to those matters,” she said.

The UK-EU agreement on NI also had “clarification” on the application state subsidy rules — however the deal was separate from ongoing trade talks.

It follows progress in talks led by Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and Maros Sefcovic from the European Commission.

They co-chair the EU-UK Joint Committee, which oversees the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement and Northern Ireland Protocol.

In a joint statement, the UK and EU said “an agreement in principle” had been reached on all issues.

In view of these “mutually agreed solutions”, the UK government will withdraw clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the UK Internal Market Bill – which could have overridden the Withdrawal Agreement – and will not introduce any similar provisions in the Taxation Bill.

The statement said: “Following intensive and constructive work over the past weeks by the EU and the UK, the two co-chairs can now announce their agreement in principle on all issues, in particular with regard to the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.”

The protocol is due to come into effect from the start of next year and would keep NI with some EU regulations on the single market to allow an open border and free flow of goods and services across the island.

Mr Gove said that businesses in Northern Ireland will have the “best of both worlds”.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the agreement was positive news and brings the UK “back into line with its obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement”.

l Morning View and Letters, page 18