Northern Ireland protocol clash risks ‘inevitable’ UK-EU trade war, officials fear
From 1 October, all business parcels sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will require customs declarations. By November, British goods exporters to Northern Ireland will need to set up a base in the region or a “fixed place of business” in order to meet the requirements of a trusted trader scheme to prove that goods will not enter the EU.
Yet rather than advocating for ways to cut friction that were likely to be agreed to, Mr Frost had inflamed relations, according to a person familiar with Northern Irish business operations.
If the UK were to press ahead with a rejected plan it would fracture the protocol and the two key Brexit treaties, they said. “This is breaking the withdrawal agreement, and there are provisions within the TCA [Trade and Cooperation Agreement] to let the EU take tariff measures. So this isn’t just about Northern Irish businesses and consumers, this is about GB businesses and consumers as well. I don’t think many people see this danger.”
A leader of a business lobbying group echoed the comments, adding that the move was totally unrealistic: “The EU is not going to create a gaping backdoor to its single market.”
They added that the EU was wary of the UK trying to pursue a delaying strategy, constantly extending grace periods in order to make implementation politically toxic ahead of the Northern Irish consent vote in December 2024. The vote is a legally binding provision of the withdrawal agreement.
It’s time to stop “megaphone diplomacy” they said. “If trust can be reattained” some major trade frictions set could be mitigated or avoided through private negotiations.
Let's examine 1 of the points in that article. The 1 relating to Sainsburys.
Sainsburys has 13 stores in Northern Ireland. Due to the so-called "integrity of the Single Market" adopted by the Masterrace, Sainsburys is not allowed to sell any of its goods in Northern Ireland unless it can prove that stuff is not being sold across the border which may have been produced in Great Britain. Consequently, it is having to source most of its product in NI from a rival supplier.
How many stores does Sainsburys have in the Republic of Ireland? None. The only "export" will be people nipping over the border to shop in NI Sainsburys. Which they are free to do in Northern Ireland-the UK does not restrict purchases. We do not wish to penalise the people of Ireland-unlike, of course, the EU.
The Good Friday Agreement was all about freedom. Freedom to identify as being British, or supporting an All-Ireland agenda. Living in far greater harmony than previously-due to considerable concessions made by both the UK and Ireland.
Compare and contrast with the EU. Unwilling to allow 1 of its members freely to trade with its only neighbour. Not allowing both sides of the border to trade freely, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of these goods will never leave the island of Ireland. How difficult would it be to have different rules for items exported outside of the island of Ireland rather than remaining there? The EU has managed to do that elsewhere.
I dislike the UK government. It sells us short, and tries to con us. But for their own ends, and greed. Better that than the sort of dogma that belongs in a George Orwell book.
Let's examine 1 of the points in that article. The 1 relating to Sainsburys.
Sainsburys has 13 stores in Northern Ireland. Due to the so-called "integrity of the Single Market" adopted by the Masterrace, Sainsburys is not allowed to sell any of its goods in Northern Ireland unless it can prove that stuff is not being sold across the border which may have been produced in Great Britain. Consequently, it is having to source most of its product in NI from a rival supplier.
How many stores does Sainsburys have in the Republic of Ireland? None. The only "export" will be people nipping over the border to shop in NI Sainsburys. Which they are free to do in Northern Ireland-the UK does not restrict purchases. We do not wish to penalise the people of Ireland-unlike, of course, the EU.
The Good Friday Agreement was all about freedom. Freedom to identify as being British, or supporting an All-Ireland agenda. Living in far greater harmony than previously-due to considerable concessions made by both the UK and Ireland.
Compare and contrast with the EU. Unwilling to allow 1 of its members freely to trade with its only neighbour. Not allowing both sides of the border to trade freely, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of these goods will never leave the island of Ireland. How difficult would it be to have different rules for items exported outside of the island of Ireland rather than remaining there? The EU has managed to do that elsewhere.
I dislike the UK government. It sells us short, and tries to con us. But for their own ends, and greed. Better that than the sort of dogma that belongs in a George Orwell book.
I think that the argument that you are putting forward has merit, and anyone with any common sense would agree with it, but only if you minimise the facts taken into account. Our Government is putting forward similar arguments in order to pull the wool over peoples eyes.
We left the EU, and are now a third country. The EU dont allow imports of chilled meats from third countries. That seems quite simple to me. What were we expecting to happen after we left. The other major supermarkets operating in NI already source their sausages elsewhere, and dont have a problem.
Boris made up the protocol. He put the border in the Irish Sea. He left NI in the customs union/ single market. Signing one agreement could do away with 80% of the checks.
When you consider that we were members for almost 50 years, contributed to the rule making, and agreed with virtually all of them, It would seem completely ridiculous to whinge about the rules, now that we have left.
The EU dont allow the import of chilled meats from third countries. End of.
The other major supermarkets have resolved this. Sainsburys will probably work it out before very long.
As time goes on, I think there will be many more people that will discover they were conned over Brexit.
The fella in the recent video, that used to live in Spain, and came home to vote for Brexit is no longer happy, which is understandable, but nobody warned him. In the recent Brexit programme on the telly, there was a haulier, who bought a place in Holland for 3 million quid, to avoid his business collapsing, then discovered he would have to spend a further 130k on all his drivers taking tests in Ireland. Have we got any trawlers left working?
Boris knew what he was doing, he could have chosen a closer relationship, and caused less friction to trade, but chose not to.
The Government said this week that the protocol was not designed to last forever, but they dont seem to have an alternative. If it was not meant to last forever, what will it be replaced with? Maybe Theresa Mays Backstop.
Even if we stopped trading with the EU, we will have to have a border between us and them. The border will always separate NI from the rest of GB.
Let's examine 1 of the points in that article. The 1 relating to Sainsburys.
The Good Friday Agreement was all about freedom. Freedom to identify as being British, or supporting an All-Ireland agenda. Living in far greater harmony than previously-due to considerable concessions made by both the UK and Ireland.
Compare and contrast with the EU. Unwilling to allow 1 of its members freely to trade with its only neighbour. Not allowing both sides of the border to trade freely, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of these goods will never leave the island of Ireland. How difficult would it be to have different rules for items exported outside of the island of Ireland rather than remaining there? The EU has managed to do that elsewhere.
I dislike the UK government. It sells us short, and tries to con us. But for their own ends, and greed. Better that than the sort of dogma that belongs in a George Orwell book.
The October 2019 EU UK Withdrawal Agreement
Boris Johnson's Government have negotiated a new 'deal' with the European Union. It is formed of a Political Declaration and a Withdrawal Agreement. This paper focuses on the Withdrawal Agreement and how it compares to the one negotiated by Theresa May's Government in November 2018. The main differences are in the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland or the 'backstop' as it is commonly known. It contains very different arrangements, the UK will no longer be in a single customs territory or union with the EU. The UK will no longer be legally bound to continue with level playing field commitments at the end of the transition period. Northern Ireland will still be in the UK's customs territory and VAT area, however, the region will align with the EU's rules in these areas. Northern Ireland will remain mostly aligned to the EU's regulations for goods. Four years after the end of the transition period Northern Ireland's democratic institutions will vote on whether they wish to continue the arrangements in the Protocol.
Path to the Agreement
After a period of intense negotiation, the EU and UK have reached a new settlement formed of an updated Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and Political Declaration (PD). These were published on 17 October 2019.
This paper focuses on the new WA, and in particular what areas of the WA have changed.
Theresa May’s Government finished negotiating a Withdrawal Agreement and an accompanying Political Declaration on the framework for the future relationship with the EU in November 2018. However, it was not able to obtain Parliamentary support for this package.
When Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, he said that there would be no further delays to Brexit, and that the UK would leave on 31 October. His preference would be to leave with a deal, but only if this was on the basis of a renegotiated WA amending the provisions of the WA Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, also known as the ‘backstop’, which the Prime Minister said had to be abolished.
The Government initially proposed changes that would keep Northern Ireland to be in the UK customs’ territory and out of the EU’s VAT area, and would enable Northern Ireland’s democratic institutions to consent to entering into the Protocol and continuing to adhere to it.
These were rejected by the EU. It reiterated its position that the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland should remain open, without infrastructure. It also expressed concern that the Government’s proposals would risk the integrity of the EU’s Single Market and its legal order.
Changes to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland
The most significant over-arching difference between the October 2019 proposals and those set out in the November 2018 WA is that the previous ‘backstop’ maintained a much more complete and encompassing set of relations on trade in goods between the EU and the UK through an envisaged UK-EU customs territory (although this would not have prevented other barriers for economic relations as it did not cover trade in services, movement of people/workers, movement of capital, transport services etc).
The potential relationship under the previous ‘backstop’ also came with much more alignment with EU law and standards, and therefore potentially restricted the UK’s ability to diverge from such standards and pursue an independent trade policy should it wish to.
Under the revised October 2019 Protocol if the UK and EU are unable to conclude a new future relationship agreement by the end of the transition period, an open border will be maintained between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
However, in this scenario there would be a much steeper cliff edge for trade in goods between the rest of the UK and the EU. There would also be new trade barriers for goods moving from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. This because without a trade agreement the UK would revert to ‘WTO’ trading terms with the EU, as this Protocol does not include substantive arrangements for trade in goods between the EU and the UK, other than for Northern Ireland. The previous ‘backstop’ did, and that ‘backstop’ could not be exited without the agreement of both the EU and the UK.
That notwithstanding, the EU and UK are committed to reaching a future trade agreement, and the transition period can be extended for up to a further two years (if it is extended for two years it would end in December 2022).
The focus for the revised Protocol is much more firmly on gaining the greatest possible freedom for the UK to manage its economic relations, while still maintaining as far as possible an open border on the island of Ireland. It is less concerned with maintaining frictionless trade with the EU for the rest of the UK.
Customs
While the previous ‘backstop’ kept the UK in a customs union with the EU, the new WA sees the whole of the UK (including Northern Ireland) leave the EU Customs Union. In legal terms, Northern Ireland remains part of the UK customs territory. Northern Ireland will be included in UK free trade agreements.
In practice, however, Northern Ireland 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.
The new arrangements are permanent, provided consent is given. They are no longer a ‘backstop’ – i.e. an insurance policy which will only come in effect if other measures fail to keep the Irish border open.
Democratic consent
The revised Protocol allows the Northern Ireland Assembly to provide “consent” for certain EU regulations continuing in Northern Ireland. The first vote would take place four years after the end of the transition period, and every four years thereafter if passed by a simple majority. If endorsed on a cross-community basis, then the period would be every eight years. If rejected, then the regulations will cease to apply after two years.
The level playing field
Annex 4 of the previous Protocol has now been removed. It contained references to EU laws and international conventions that would apply to the whole UK in what were called ‘level playing field’ commitments. The EU wanted these in the Protocol in order to limit the UK’s capacity to gain what it would see as an unfair advantage by lowering standards. This was of particular concern due to the UK’s close geographical proximity to the EU, but also because in the previous ‘backstop’ the UK would have been in a Single Customs Territory with the EU, meaning tariff free trade. The EU would therefore not have been able to use tariffs to compensate for any competitive advantage gained by the UK through lowering standards of regulation.
The level playing field provisions were in the areas of taxation, environmental protection, labour standards, state aid and competition. These have now been replaced by less specific and non-binding commitments in the Political Declaration to uphold such principles in any future trade agreement between the EU and the UK.
Let's examine 1 of the points in that article. The 1 relating to Sainsburys.
Sainsburys has 13 stores in Northern Ireland. Due to the so-called "integrity of the Single Market" adopted by the Masterrace, Sainsburys is not allowed to sell any of its goods in Northern Ireland unless it can prove that stuff is not being sold across the border which may have been produced in Great Britain. Consequently, it is having to source most of its product in NI from a rival supplier.
How many stores does Sainsburys have in the Republic of Ireland? None. The only "export" will be people nipping over the border to shop in NI Sainsburys. Which they are free to do in Northern Ireland-the UK does not restrict purchases. We do not wish to penalise the people of Ireland-unlike, of course, the EU.
The Good Friday Agreement was all about freedom. Freedom to identify as being British, or supporting an All-Ireland agenda. Living in far greater harmony than previously-due to considerable concessions made by both the UK and Ireland.
Compare and contrast with the EU. Unwilling to allow 1 of its members freely to trade with its only neighbour. Not allowing both sides of the border to trade freely, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of these goods will never leave the island of Ireland. How difficult would it be to have different rules for items exported outside of the island of Ireland rather than remaining there? The EU has managed to do that elsewhere.
I dislike the UK government. It sells us short, and tries to con us. But for their own ends, and greed. Better that than the sort of dogma that belongs in a George Orwell book.
Mr Stalford quoted Mrs May's former chief of staff, Lord Barwell, who last month claimed Mr Johnson's government knew the protocol "was a bad deal" but intended to "wriggle out of it later".
Lord Frost came under fire from nationalist members of the Executive Office Committee at Stormont, who told him that the UK government should implement the deal it had agreed.
“It’s your deal,” said the committee’s SDLP chair Colin McGrath. “If your deal is so shoddy, why did you negotiate it?”
And Sinn Fein’s Martina Anderson – an MEP at the time of the Brexit talks – told Lord Frost: “You were Britain’s chief negotiator for Brexit. Your eyes were wide open and your fingerprints are on every page of the protocol.
“The majority of people here in the North rejected Brexit and the majority of parties here in the Assembly, who represent the majority of people, rejected Brexit but support the protocol.
“You were the chief negotiator. You were not asleep. You knew there were going to be trade adjustments. The dogs in the street knew that there were going to be trade adjustments. Even the DUP Brexit cheerleaders knew there were going to be trade adjustments and they felt you threw them under a bus.”
Ms Anderson said that a recent poll had shown just 6 per cent in Northern Ireland trusted the UK government over the protocol.
Earlier this week, Brussels urged the UK to consider a Swiss-style veterinary agreement with the bloc on agri-foods to end a row over some goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland.
But Lord Frost insisted Britain will not adopt EU law on agri-foods to solve difficulties with post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland.
"The UK signed up to the Protocol, but does not seem to realise its implications, or at least thought that the EU would interpret it 'pragmatically' or 'flexibly' which does not happen in a continental law tradition."
He further warned: "The EU is not going to blink first and is prepared to take further legal action and/or impose tariffs on UK exports.
"Trust has broken down between the parties. There are not many options for the UK in terms of retaliation.
"Tensions could escalate much further than anticipated.
"Hanging over it all is the threat of a turbulent summer in Northern Ireland and substantial damage to the peace process."
The Prime Minister has also been told to back down in the UK's explosive row with the EU as it's a battle he can't win and would be foolish to retaliate against any punishment from Brussels.
Alistair Jones, Associate Professor in Politics and a University Teacher Fellow at De Montfort in Leicester warned Brussels "is in the right" and "holds all the cards" in the escalating row over the Protocol.
He told Express.co.uk: "The EU is in the right. They were in the wrong over the vaccines issue earlier this year, when Ursula von der Leyen activated Article 16 and then retracted within hours of issuing it.
"In that circumstance, as she subsequently admitted, she was in the wrong.
Currently, the EU has the upper hand and holds all the cards.
"The UK has tried to bluff everything eg asking for extra time before enforcing the agreement.
"Lord Frost has suggested that the EU is in the wrong by not allowing any flexibility.
"They do not need to, as the Protocol was approved by Parliament."
He also warned: "The UK will have to back down.
"If the EU were to punish the UK, any attempt from Boris to retaliate would be a disaster.
"The rest of the world would see the UK making an agreement with the EU, then failing to abide by said agreement (even though it was ratified in the UK Parliament) and trying to pick a fight because they do not like what they have agreed or were unaware of the consequences of said agreement.
"It will do nothing for the UK's international credibility or the attempts to strike deals with other countries."
Writing in The Scotsman, he said: "The year did not start in an auspicious manner, with seafood exporters rocked by new trade barriers erected with just days' notice, leading to enormous losses in trade in the early weeks of January and the frankly humiliating situation of fishermen taking their catch all the way to Denmark to avoid the chaos our Government created.
"When I called an urgent debate on the growing disaster at the time, ministers dismissed them as 'teething problems'.
"What we have seen since has put the lie to that claim."
She said: "For the fishing community of Humberside, on the austerity-battered north-east coast of England, it is as if a slow-motion car crash has suddenly been fast-forwarded."
The negotiator of the deal – which created a border in the Irish Sea – admitted he had not fully foreseen the “chilling effect” of the punishing new red tape, which has left smaller firms facing higher costs.
The government insists that the recent three-month truce over the sale of chilled meats and availability of medicines has failed to solve the crisis caused by the protocol.
The comments came as the fishing industry accused Tory MPs who had hyped the potential gains from Brexit of going “very quiet” as those benefits failed to materialise.
Peter Hain, the Labour former Northern Ireland secretary, warned that Lord Frost had lost the trust of unionists, nationalists, the EU and the Dublin government, saying sarcastically: “That’s a pretty successful negotiation, isn’t it?”
The EU accuses the UK of failing to abide by the protocol – by introducing checks at Northern Irish ports and by supplying data on cross-sea trade – but London blames an over-zealous implementation
Jason Porter, director of specialist expats financial advisers, Blevin Franks, commented on the matter.
He said: "Treatment on a return to the UK was specifically exempted when the UK was a member of the EU.
"But now, for new arrivals there is no NHS coverage and no ability to get coverage without paying for it.
"It will therefore be necessary to buy travel insurance which includes health cover for visits back to the UK."
Irish premier Micheal Martin has called on the UK Government to “reciprocate the generosity of spirit” shown by EU leaders on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It came after UK cabinet ministers ramped up pressure for concessions on the Protocol by warning of disruption to peace if changes are not made.
Micheal Martin said the EU had demonstrated “goodwill and generosity” to the UK, with the extension to the grace period allowing chilled meats to be sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland this week.
The Taoiseach said the EU is willing to make changes that can ease disruption to trade flows, but that the UK must abide by what it signed up to.
Haulage boss Robert Hewett bought a new depot in the Netherlands after Brexit to continue his business but found out his drivers could not drive them due to not having EU-registered driver's licences. He has since found a loophole in the European Union's rules to train his drivers in Ireland to keep his business running. This is expected to cost him a total of £130,000.
Speaking to BBC Panorama, Mr Hewett said: "We thought we've invested £3.5million by buying a facility in Europe to overcome the Brexit thing and be ahead of the game and then this hit us.
Boris Johnson’s hastily botched EU trade deal left out finance, responsible for 80% of our exports by value. It nearly stalled over fishing, a sector with just 12,000 jobs, yet even that industry is wrecked – and the Express says so: “‘They’ve sold us down the f*****g river!’
The EU normally bars chilled meat products from being imported into its single market.
Let's examine 1 of the points in that article. The 1 relating to Sainsburys.
Sainsburys has 13 stores in Northern Ireland. Due to the so-called "integrity of the Single Market" adopted by the Masterrace, Sainsburys is not allowed to sell any of its goods in Northern Ireland unless it can prove that stuff is not being sold across the border which may have been produced in Great Britain. Consequently, it is having to source most of its product in NI from a rival supplier.
How many stores does Sainsburys have in the Republic of Ireland? None. The only "export" will be people nipping over the border to shop in NI Sainsburys. Which they are free to do in Northern Ireland-the UK does not restrict purchases. We do not wish to penalise the people of Ireland-unlike, of course, the EU.
The Good Friday Agreement was all about freedom. Freedom to identify as being British, or supporting an All-Ireland agenda. Living in far greater harmony than previously-due to considerable concessions made by both the UK and Ireland.
Compare and contrast with the EU. Unwilling to allow 1 of its members freely to trade with its only neighbour. Not allowing both sides of the border to trade freely, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of these goods will never leave the island of Ireland. How difficult would it be to have different rules for items exported outside of the island of Ireland rather than remaining there? The EU has managed to do that elsewhere.
I dislike the UK government. It sells us short, and tries to con us. But for their own ends, and greed. Better that than the sort of dogma that belongs in a George Orwell book.
NI Protocol port checks could be reduced by 80% – Coveney
The number of checks on goods arriving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain could be reduced by 80%, the Irish Foreign Affairs minister has said.
Simon Coveney said that option exists within the Northern Ireland Protocol if the UK was willing to agreed a common approach to standards in relation to veterinary practices, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards on food.
Comments
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/brexit-might-have-been-a-mistake-says-vote-leave-supremo-dominic-cummings/ar-AAMmRHq?ocid=msedgntp
From 1 October, all business parcels sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will require customs declarations. By November, British goods exporters to Northern Ireland will need to set up a base in the region or a “fixed place of business” in order to meet the requirements of a trusted trader scheme to prove that goods will not enter the EU.
Yet rather than advocating for ways to cut friction that were likely to be agreed to, Mr Frost had inflamed relations, according to a person familiar with Northern Irish business operations.
If the UK were to press ahead with a rejected plan it would fracture the protocol and the two key Brexit treaties, they said. “This is breaking the withdrawal agreement, and there are provisions within the TCA [Trade and Cooperation Agreement] to let the EU take tariff measures. So this isn’t just about Northern Irish businesses and consumers, this is about GB businesses and consumers as well. I don’t think many people see this danger.”
A leader of a business lobbying group echoed the comments, adding that the move was totally unrealistic: “The EU is not going to create a gaping backdoor to its single market.”
They added that the EU was wary of the UK trying to pursue a delaying strategy, constantly extending grace periods in order to make implementation politically toxic ahead of the Northern Irish consent vote in December 2024. The vote is a legally binding provision of the withdrawal agreement.
It’s time to stop “megaphone diplomacy” they said. “If trust can be reattained” some major trade frictions set could be mitigated or avoided through private negotiations.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/brexit/northern-ireland-protocol-clash-risks-inevitable-uk-eu-trade-war-officials-fear/ar-AAMpdDw?ocid=msedgntp
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/britain-tells-eu-on-brexit-deal-it-wasn-t-going-to-last-forever/ar-AAMqcDZ?ocid=msedgntp
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/european-union-vaccine-rollout-uk-germany-belgium-covid-19-coronavirus-182610356.html
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/boris-johnson-has-made-a-brexit-offer-the-eu-can-only-refuse/ar-AAMqcYV?ocid=msedgntp
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/brexit/lord-frost-s-brexit-masterplan-three-key-pieces-of-legislation-uk-says-must-be-ripped-up/ar-AAMsKyR?ocid=msedgntp
Sainsburys has 13 stores in Northern Ireland. Due to the so-called "integrity of the Single Market" adopted by the Masterrace, Sainsburys is not allowed to sell any of its goods in Northern Ireland unless it can prove that stuff is not being sold across the border which may have been produced in Great Britain. Consequently, it is having to source most of its product in NI from a rival supplier.
How many stores does Sainsburys have in the Republic of Ireland? None. The only "export" will be people nipping over the border to shop in NI Sainsburys. Which they are free to do in Northern Ireland-the UK does not restrict purchases. We do not wish to penalise the people of Ireland-unlike, of course, the EU.
The Good Friday Agreement was all about freedom. Freedom to identify as being British, or supporting an All-Ireland agenda. Living in far greater harmony than previously-due to considerable concessions made by both the UK and Ireland.
Compare and contrast with the EU. Unwilling to allow 1 of its members freely to trade with its only neighbour. Not allowing both sides of the border to trade freely, regardless of the fact that the vast majority of these goods will never leave the island of Ireland. How difficult would it be to have different rules for items exported outside of the island of Ireland rather than remaining there? The EU has managed to do that elsewhere.
I dislike the UK government. It sells us short, and tries to con us. But for their own ends, and greed. Better that than the sort of dogma that belongs in a George Orwell book.
Our Government is putting forward similar arguments in order to pull the wool over peoples eyes.
We left the EU, and are now a third country.
The EU dont allow imports of chilled meats from third countries.
That seems quite simple to me.
What were we expecting to happen after we left.
The other major supermarkets operating in NI already source their sausages elsewhere, and dont have a problem.
Boris made up the protocol.
He put the border in the Irish Sea.
He left NI in the customs union/ single market.
Signing one agreement could do away with 80% of the checks.
When you consider that we were members for almost 50 years, contributed to the rule making, and agreed with virtually all of them,
It would seem completely ridiculous to whinge about the rules, now that we have left.
The EU dont allow the import of chilled meats from third countries.
End of.
The other major supermarkets have resolved this.
Sainsburys will probably work it out before very long.
As time goes on, I think there will be many more people that will discover they were conned over Brexit.
The fella in the recent video, that used to live in Spain, and came home to vote for Brexit is no longer happy, which is understandable, but nobody warned him.
In the recent Brexit programme on the telly, there was a haulier, who bought a place in Holland for 3 million quid, to avoid his business collapsing, then discovered he would have to spend a further 130k on all his drivers taking tests in Ireland.
Have we got any trawlers left working?
Boris knew what he was doing, he could have chosen a closer relationship, and caused less friction to trade, but chose not to.
The Government said this week that the protocol was not designed to last forever, but they dont seem to have an alternative.
If it was not meant to last forever, what will it be replaced with?
Maybe Theresa Mays Backstop.
Even if we stopped trading with the EU, we will have to have a border between us and them.
The border will always separate NI from the rest of GB.
Good luck with that Boris.
Boris Johnson's Government have negotiated a new 'deal' with the European Union. It is formed of a Political Declaration and a Withdrawal Agreement. This paper focuses on the Withdrawal Agreement and how it compares to the one negotiated by Theresa May's Government in November 2018. The main differences are in the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland or the 'backstop' as it is commonly known. It contains very different arrangements, the UK will no longer be in a single customs territory or union with the EU. The UK will no longer be legally bound to continue with level playing field commitments at the end of the transition period. Northern Ireland will still be in the UK's customs territory and VAT area, however, the region will align with the EU's rules in these areas. Northern Ireland will remain mostly aligned to the EU's regulations for goods. Four years after the end of the transition period Northern Ireland's democratic institutions will vote on whether they wish to continue the arrangements in the Protocol.
Path to the Agreement
After a period of intense negotiation, the EU and UK have reached a new settlement formed of an updated Withdrawal Agreement (WA) and Political Declaration (PD). These were published on 17 October 2019.
This paper focuses on the new WA, and in particular what areas of the WA have changed.
Theresa May’s Government finished negotiating a Withdrawal Agreement and an accompanying Political Declaration on the framework for the future relationship with the EU in November 2018. However, it was not able to obtain Parliamentary support for this package.
When Boris Johnson became Prime Minister in July 2019, he said that there would be no further delays to Brexit, and that the UK would leave on 31 October. His preference would be to leave with a deal, but only if this was on the basis of a renegotiated WA amending the provisions of the WA Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, also known as the ‘backstop’, which the Prime Minister said had to be abolished.
The Government initially proposed changes that would keep Northern Ireland to be in the UK customs’ territory and out of the EU’s VAT area, and would enable Northern Ireland’s democratic institutions to consent to entering into the Protocol and continuing to adhere to it.
These were rejected by the EU. It reiterated its position that the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland should remain open, without infrastructure. It also expressed concern that the Government’s proposals would risk the integrity of the EU’s Single Market and its legal order.
Changes to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland
The most significant over-arching difference between the October 2019 proposals and those set out in the November 2018 WA is that the previous ‘backstop’ maintained a much more complete and encompassing set of relations on trade in goods between the EU and the UK through an envisaged UK-EU customs territory (although this would not have prevented other barriers for economic relations as it did not cover trade in services, movement of people/workers, movement of capital, transport services etc).
The potential relationship under the previous ‘backstop’ also came with much more alignment with EU law and standards, and therefore potentially restricted the UK’s ability to diverge from such standards and pursue an independent trade policy should it wish to.
Under the revised October 2019 Protocol if the UK and EU are unable to conclude a new future relationship agreement by the end of the transition period, an open border will be maintained between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
However, in this scenario there would be a much steeper cliff edge for trade in goods between the rest of the UK and the EU. There would also be new trade barriers for goods moving from Great Britain into Northern Ireland. This because without a trade agreement the UK would revert to ‘WTO’ trading terms with the EU, as this Protocol does not include substantive arrangements for trade in goods between the EU and the UK, other than for Northern Ireland. The previous ‘backstop’ did, and that ‘backstop’ could not be exited without the agreement of both the EU and the UK.
That notwithstanding, the EU and UK are committed to reaching a future trade agreement, and the transition period can be extended for up to a further two years (if it is extended for two years it would end in December 2022).
The focus for the revised Protocol is much more firmly on gaining the greatest possible freedom for the UK to manage its economic relations, while still maintaining as far as possible an open border on the island of Ireland. It is less concerned with maintaining frictionless trade with the EU for the rest of the UK.
Customs
While the previous ‘backstop’ kept the UK in a customs union with the EU, the new WA sees the whole of the UK (including Northern Ireland) leave the EU Customs Union. In legal terms, Northern Ireland remains part of the UK customs territory. Northern Ireland will be included in UK free trade agreements.
In practice, however, Northern Ireland 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.
The new arrangements are permanent, provided consent is given. They are no longer a ‘backstop’ – i.e. an insurance policy which will only come in effect if other measures fail to keep the Irish border open.
Democratic consent
The revised Protocol allows the Northern Ireland Assembly to provide “consent” for certain EU regulations continuing in Northern Ireland. The first vote would take place four years after the end of the transition period, and every four years thereafter if passed by a simple majority. If endorsed on a cross-community basis, then the period would be every eight years. If rejected, then the regulations will cease to apply after two years.
The level playing field
Annex 4 of the previous Protocol has now been removed. It contained references to EU laws and international conventions that would apply to the whole UK in what were called ‘level playing field’ commitments. The EU wanted these in the Protocol in order to limit the UK’s capacity to gain what it would see as an unfair advantage by lowering standards. This was of particular concern due to the UK’s close geographical proximity to the EU, but also because in the previous ‘backstop’ the UK would have been in a Single Customs Territory with the EU, meaning tariff free trade. The EU would therefore not have been able to use tariffs to compensate for any competitive advantage gained by the UK through lowering standards of regulation.
The level playing field provisions were in the areas of taxation, environmental protection, labour standards, state aid and competition. These have now been replaced by less specific and non-binding commitments in the Political Declaration to uphold such principles in any future trade agreement between the EU and the UK.
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8713/
Lord Frost came under fire from nationalist members of the Executive Office Committee at Stormont, who told him that the UK government should implement the deal it had agreed.
“It’s your deal,” said the committee’s SDLP chair Colin McGrath. “If your deal is so shoddy, why did you negotiate it?”
And Sinn Fein’s Martina Anderson – an MEP at the time of the Brexit talks – told Lord Frost: “You were Britain’s chief negotiator for Brexit. Your eyes were wide open and your fingerprints are on every page of the protocol.
“The majority of people here in the North rejected Brexit and the majority of parties here in the Assembly, who represent the majority of people, rejected Brexit but support the protocol.
“You were the chief negotiator. You were not asleep. You knew there were going to be trade adjustments. The dogs in the street knew that there were going to be trade adjustments. Even the DUP Brexit cheerleaders knew there were going to be trade adjustments and they felt you threw them under a bus.”
Ms Anderson said that a recent poll had shown just 6 per cent in Northern Ireland trusted the UK government over the protocol.
Earlier this week, Brussels urged the UK to consider a Swiss-style veterinary agreement with the bloc on agri-foods to end a row over some goods moving between Britain and Northern Ireland.
But Lord Frost insisted Britain will not adopt EU law on agri-foods to solve difficulties with post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland.
"The UK signed up to the Protocol, but does not seem to realise its implications, or at least thought that the EU would interpret it 'pragmatically' or 'flexibly' which does not happen in a continental law tradition."
He further warned: "The EU is not going to blink first and is prepared to take further legal action and/or impose tariffs on UK exports.
"Trust has broken down between the parties. There are not many options for the UK in terms of retaliation.
"Tensions could escalate much further than anticipated.
"Hanging over it all is the threat of a turbulent summer in Northern Ireland and substantial damage to the peace process."
The Prime Minister has also been told to back down in the UK's explosive row with the EU as it's a battle he can't win and would be foolish to retaliate against any punishment from Brussels.
Alistair Jones, Associate Professor in Politics and a University Teacher Fellow at De Montfort in Leicester warned Brussels "is in the right" and "holds all the cards" in the escalating row over the Protocol.
He told Express.co.uk: "The EU is in the right. They were in the wrong over the vaccines issue earlier this year, when Ursula von der Leyen activated Article 16 and then retracted within hours of issuing it.
"In that circumstance, as she subsequently admitted, she was in the wrong.
Currently, the EU has the upper hand and holds all the cards.
"The UK has tried to bluff everything eg asking for extra time before enforcing the agreement.
"Lord Frost has suggested that the EU is in the wrong by not allowing any flexibility.
"They do not need to, as the Protocol was approved by Parliament."
He also warned: "The UK will have to back down.
"If the EU were to punish the UK, any attempt from Boris to retaliate would be a disaster.
"The rest of the world would see the UK making an agreement with the EU, then failing to abide by said agreement (even though it was ratified in the UK Parliament) and trying to pick a fight because they do not like what they have agreed or were unaware of the consequences of said agreement.
"It will do nothing for the UK's international credibility or the attempts to strike deals with other countries."
Writing in The Scotsman, he said: "The year did not start in an auspicious manner, with seafood exporters rocked by new trade barriers erected with just days' notice, leading to enormous losses in trade in the early weeks of January and the frankly humiliating situation of fishermen taking their catch all the way to Denmark to avoid the chaos our Government created.
"When I called an urgent debate on the growing disaster at the time, ministers dismissed them as 'teething problems'.
"What we have seen since has put the lie to that claim."
She said: "For the fishing community of Humberside, on the austerity-battered north-east coast of England, it is as if a slow-motion car crash has suddenly been fast-forwarded."
The negotiator of the deal – which created a border in the Irish Sea – admitted he had not fully foreseen the “chilling effect” of the punishing new red tape, which has left smaller firms facing higher costs.
The government insists that the recent three-month truce over the sale of chilled meats and availability of medicines has failed to solve the crisis caused by the protocol.
The comments came as the fishing industry accused Tory MPs who had hyped the potential gains from Brexit of going “very quiet” as those benefits failed to materialise.
Peter Hain, the Labour former Northern Ireland secretary, warned that Lord Frost had lost the trust of unionists, nationalists, the EU and the Dublin government, saying sarcastically: “That’s a pretty successful negotiation, isn’t it?”
The EU accuses the UK of failing to abide by the protocol – by introducing checks at Northern Irish ports and by supplying data on cross-sea trade – but London blames an over-zealous implementation
Jason Porter, director of specialist expats financial advisers, Blevin Franks, commented on the matter.
He said: "Treatment on a return to the UK was specifically exempted when the UK was a member of the EU.
"But now, for new arrivals there is no NHS coverage and no ability to get coverage without paying for it.
"It will therefore be necessary to buy travel insurance which includes health cover for visits back to the UK."
Irish premier Micheal Martin has called on the UK Government to “reciprocate the generosity of spirit” shown by EU leaders on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
It came after UK cabinet ministers ramped up pressure for concessions on the Protocol by warning of disruption to peace if changes are not made.
Micheal Martin said the EU had demonstrated “goodwill and generosity” to the UK, with the extension to the grace period allowing chilled meats to be sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland this week.
The Taoiseach said the EU is willing to make changes that can ease disruption to trade flows, but that the UK must abide by what it signed up to.
Haulage boss Robert Hewett bought a new depot in the Netherlands after Brexit to continue his business but found out his drivers could not drive them due to not having EU-registered driver's licences. He has since found a loophole in the European Union's rules to train his drivers in Ireland to keep his business running. This is expected to cost him a total of £130,000.
Speaking to BBC Panorama, Mr Hewett said: "We thought we've invested £3.5million by buying a facility in Europe to overcome the Brexit thing and be ahead of the game and then this hit us.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/take-that-eu-british-haulier-to-exploit-brexit-loophole-after-eu-rejects-uk-demands/ar-AALNwRJ?ocid=msedgntp
Boris Johnson’s hastily botched EU trade deal left out finance, responsible for 80% of our exports by value. It nearly stalled over fishing, a sector with just 12,000 jobs, yet even that industry is wrecked – and the Express says so: “‘They’ve sold us down the f*****g river!’
The EU normally bars chilled meat products from being imported into its single market.
The number of checks on goods arriving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain could be reduced by 80%, the Irish Foreign Affairs minister has said.
Simon Coveney said that option exists within the Northern Ireland Protocol if the UK was willing to agreed a common approach to standards in relation to veterinary practices, and sanitary and phytosanitary standards on food.
https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2021-05-20/ni-protocol-port-checks-could-be-reduced-by-80-coveney
Trustworthy.
Politician.
Sorry couldn't put the two together in one sentence.