UUP’s Lord Empey: Cabinet must admit there will be an Irish Sea border due to Brexit

He was speaking after a report by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster concluded that the Government’s approach to post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland has left businesses in the dark.

The report also accused the Government of leaving businesses ill-prepared for the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.

The government said that when it takes effect in January it will not mean new processes for NI to GB trade. But the MPs said unfettered access will need a concession from the EU that it has not yet granted.

Lord Empey said: “Less than six months before the end of the Transition period, it is distressing to hear Cabinet Ministers denying that there will be a border in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

“This attempt to hide from the reality is doing no service to business or the general public. There will be a border in the Irish Sea. Northern Ireland will be in a totally different regulatory regime for agricultural produce and manufactured goods; we may have tariffs applied to some products entering Northern Ireland and we will be subject to all the State Aid rules that will no longer apply to Great Britain.”

He added: “If I am wrong, why are we building border control posts? Why is HMRC requiring companies sending goods to Northern Ireland to fill out forms?”

He urged Secretary of State Brandon Lewis to read House of Commons briefing paper published ‘The October 2019 EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement.’

The UUP Peer said it points out that the EU’s state aid rules will apply to Northern Ireland ONLY, rather than the whole of the UK and that while acknowledging that NI remains ‘part of the UK Customs Territory, it says ‘In practice, however, NI will apply many EU customs rules and there will effectively be a customs and regulatory border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the Irish Sea’.

Simon Hoare, chair of the NI Affairs Committee, said political process “must not trump the interests of the people of Northern Ireland”. “The government may be able to wait until the wire for clarity on customs arrangements, but business cannot,” he said.

The Cabinet Office responded that it was “engaging intensively with businesses and the executive in NI and will set out further guidance later this month”.

Sinn Fein accused the UK Government of “playing reckless games” over the issue.

South Antrim MLA Declan Kearney made the remarks after a report concluded that the Government’s approach to post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland has left businesses in the dark.

The report by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee also condemned the Government for leaving businesses ill-prepared for the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.

Mr Kearney claimed that the Government is “neither properly focused upon, or concerned about” addressing concerns by businesses about the “lack of detail” to continue trading under the new procedures governing the EU and British Government Withdrawal Agreement.

“I am not surprised this British parliamentary affairs committee remains to be convinced the current British Government fully understands its political approach provides neither the clarity nor the detail required by the business community in the north,” he said.

“This has been apparent for some time and is a damning indictment of the Tories’ Brexit agenda, and failure to deliver on the terms of the Irish Protocol.”

Mr Kearney also criticised the Government for not seeking an extension of the transition period in June as “absolutely wrongheaded”.

“That decision is further evidence the British government is preparing for a ‘no deal Brexit’. Such an outcome would be a catastrophe for our local businesses, and the regional and island economies,” he added.

SDLP MP Claire Hanna, who sits on the NI Affairs Committee, was also critical of the Government, and warned that businesses based in the region will face additional barriers to trade with Britain if no action is taken to secure the promised “unfettered access” to the GB market.

“The report published by the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee today reflects on the failure of Boris Johnson’s Government to engage with the fundamental contradictions of their position,” she said.

“To continue to boast about unfettered access to the GB market for Northern Ireland businesses, for example, without addressing the need for export and exit summary declarations under EU customs rules is fundamentally dishonest.

“If this Government applied the same energy and resource to solving these problems for local businesses as it does to sloganeering ad campaigns, we may be in a better position. As it stands, there has been no indication that the needs of people and businesses in Northern Ireland are a priority, and that needs to change.”

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