LONDON (Reuters) – Britain set out its plans to ease the flow of goods to and from Northern Ireland on Wednesday, a key demand of the Democratic Unionist Party in exchange for rejoining the region’s power-sharing government.
Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government for almost two years after the DUP walked out in protest over post-Brexit trade rules, which it said created barriers with the rest of the United Kingdom and undermined Northern Ireland’s place in it.
Below are some of the main points from the government’s proposals set out in a policy paper:
SMOOTH FLOW OF GOODS
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government said the changes will mean more than 80% of all freight movements from Britain to Northern Ireland will be treated as ‘not at risk’ of moving onwards to the EU via the soft border with EU member Ireland.
It said there would be an end to the so-called “green lane” for goods travelling from Britain into Northern Ireland, which requires a certain percentage of goods to be checked.
This will be replaced by a “UK internal market system” where there would not be checks apart from those conducted as part of a “risk-based approach to tackle criminality, smuggling and disease risks”.
There will still be a so-called “red lane” for transporting goods from Britain to Ireland or elsewhere in the EU, but steps will be taken to reduce the amount of goods that need to be included in this route.
FOOD AND DRINK
The paper said there would be a promise to legislate to ensure that all food and drink sold in the United Kingdom will have consistent labelling to “remove any disincentive for suppliers, manufacturers or retailers” to sell goods in Northern Ireland.
NEW LEGISLATION
The government said that the measures will reaffirm Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom.
The paper said that ministers will be under a legal requirement to assess whether any new legislation could impact trade between Northern Ireland and Britain.
The government said the measures will “future-proof the constitutional status of Northern Ireland against any future agreements that create new EU law alignment for Northern Ireland and undermine its place in the UK’s internal market”.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
