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Northern Ireland has a uniquely advantageous deal – other UK businesses will wonder why they can’t do the same.
Paul Kelso, Business Correspondent
By luck or design, Northern Ireland’s rise, facilitated by the relaxation of customs controls, came on the same day that trade between the EU and the rest of the UK became more complex and expensive.
Andrea Leadsom, now Deputy Health Secretary but a prominent Brexit supporter, in 2016 cited the £330m cost of new Brexit rules as a cost businesses had to swallow. While he rejected it, his colleague Chris Heaton-Harris had also threatened to scrap the same checks in the UK government. -NI border.
These checks, which made the Irish Sea border a reality, were the pretext for the DUP to withdraw from Stormont. Convincing them that they could be eliminated was the key to winning their return.
The Government says there are no “UK procedures” for goods moving from NI to GB, but goods making the same journey via Dublin will require an EU customs declaration.
Essentially, this is the same regime that applied to goods imported into the UK from the EU until yesterday.
However, goods moving from Dublin to the UK will face all sorts of new customs formalities.
The trickier route has always been to move goods from GB to NI, where some changes have been made to the Windsor framework.
The planned Green Lane (probably poorly named in hindsight) will be replaced by the UK Internal Market Lane, which will cover 80% of all freight as long as the goods are not ‘at risk’ of entering Ireland. This is guaranteed.
The red lane next to it handles risky products and all physical “identification” is concentrated on this route.
There is also a commitment to remove customs documentation from GB-NI trade, and a planned border post at Cairnryan, the main cargo port for goods from GB, will not be built.
It remains to be seen whether the details of the trade deal will withstand scrutiny from skeptical unionists and Brexiteers, but ministers say it will give Northern Ireland unfettered access to the UK internal market and the EU customs union. I believe.
Businesses in other parts of the UK will be facing import costs for the first time today and wondering why they can’t do the same.
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