Windsor Framework: Government says rule obligating 5% sea border checks is 'fundamental underpinning' and won't be removed

The government was questioned by the DUP MP Carla Lockhart on a commitment in the Safeguarding the Union deal that the government “will remove checks when goods move within the UK internal market system”.

Mark Davies, the Director of the Windsor Framework Taskforce at the Cabinet Office, said the government “are not proposing to remove the fact that we need those schemes and those arrangements in place to make sure that this continues to function”.

Carla Lockhart said the deletion of regulation 13 of the Windsor Framework is important to ensure that the commitment to remove checks is actually followed through on.

The Upper Bann MP said: “My understanding is that was to be dealt with. It was raised in the last debate on this and there was some discussion around it. So there’s not intention to delete regulation 13?”

The official said the UK government had put in place a number of things which govern the UK internal market scheme – but that would be still be “within the underpinning of a scheme that’s there to prevent abuse and for us to retain the ability to perform checks where they are necessary to avoid abuse, disease risks, criminality and smuggling”.

"It is important to know we’re not proposing to remove those fundamental underpinnings of how you can function a scheme – a set of schemes which have always been a thing we’ve advocated since 2021 and beyond as the means to operate a UK internal market system”.

Regulation 13 requires Northern Ireland authorities to carry out a certain percentage of identity checks on goods entering Northern Ireland in the green lane or UK internal market scheme lane.

The DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has previously said practical measures agreed with the UK government would mean "zero checks" on goods moving within the UK. However, Regulation 13 which the government says is staying in place, commits to 5% checks.

The Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris was asked by the NI Affairs Committee Chair Sir Robert Buckland about the government’s pledge in the Safeguarding the Union command paper to repeal legislation requiring ministers to have due regard to the all-island economy.

Sir Robert asked Mr Heaton-Harris: “how soon do you expect to legislate on further amendment of that bill and indeed further changes to the UK Internal Market Act as well?”

Mr Heaton Harris said on the second part of the question he could not commit to a timetable but he wanted to move quickly and in a responsible and proper way.

In terms of the commitment to repeal other parts of the joint report, the NI Secretary said they had already been delivered upon or fallen away.

He said the government is “working at pace to deliver on the legislative commitments in the command paper, of which this was one. As set out in the command paper this will include removing the reference made in section 10 (1) b regarding the all-island economy”.

He said his job now is to “work across government and the business managers to identify exactly what this means in the legislative world as well as the world of business etc and to move forward quickly”.

Alliance MP Stephen Farry asked if he accepted that the all-Ireland economy is a genuine and wider concept.

"I’d like to think that what we demonstrated in the Windsor Framework was a recognition that flows of trade north-south and east-west are vital to the NI economy. So yes.”