The proposed Windsor Framework is bad deal for Northern Ireland and for the UK as a whole, with the bold claims made for it by the UK government not standing up to close scrutiny. Minor gains have been negotiated on trade in a few areas, but overall trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will at best be marginally easier and will still be beset by extensive bureaucracy. Problems related to state aid and VAT also remain, as does ECJ supremacy, and the so-called ‘Stormont Brake’ designed to close the democratic deficit in Northern Ireland will be almost impossible to use.
Far from replacing the protocol, it actually entrenches it and in addition gives the EU new ways to exercise its influence and authority over the whole of the UK. Let us look at the most important aspects in turn:
- Trade between GB and Northern Ireland
- (i) Goods will continue to be divided into those ‘at risk’ and ‘not at risk’ of entering the EU, with a complex bureaucratic system used to determine in which category goods are placed. The presumption of a customs border in the Irish Sea remains.
- (ii) The ‘green lane’ does not remove customs formalities and paperwork, nor does it apply to all goods travelling from GB to NI:
- (iii) In order to allow this green lane system to operate, UK firms will face onerous new labelling requirements:
- (iv) Some of the bespoke solutions offered in key problem areas are still incomplete:
- (v) NI firms will still be subject to EU regulations on products and production processes. The ‘dual regulatory system’ the UK had been seeking under which NI firms could choose between UK and EU rules has not been agreed
- VAT and state aid
- The ‘Stormont Brake’
- The role of EU law in Northern Ireland
- Regulatory alignment
- ‘Dual access’
- Conclusion
Source: www.briefingsforbritain.co.uk
