Aiken: Food checks deal welcome, but Irish Sea border is far from gone

Ulster Unionist Windsor Framework spokesperson Dr Steve Aiken OBE MLA has given a cautious welcome to reports of a draft UK-EU agreement on food and agriculture checks. He warned that Northern Ireland remains separated from the rest of the United Kingdom on a wide range of other rules, and that this will get worse under new EU customs law.

Speaking in the Assembly, Dr Steve Aiken said:

“The news that, after many false starts, a 200-page draft text of a UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary agreement has been circulated to EU member states in Brussels, for consideration at a meeting tomorrow, should be broadly, albeit cautiously, welcomed.

“I hope the leaking of this information to the BBC is not part of a poorly managed negotiating tactic by Whitehall. With the draft still to be agreed by 27 EU member states, there remains a lot of scope for change.

“If the agreement goes ahead, checks on most agricultural goods coming from the rest of our nation will be significantly, but not completely, reduced.

“However, Northern Ireland remains separated from the rest of the United Kingdom on a vast swathe of other regulations, tariffs and duties. We remain subject to the EU’s customs code, and with the implementation of the new Union Customs Code, divergence, disruption and distortion of trade to and from the UK internal market will only accelerate.

“The Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee has received evidence that the new code will make significant changes to the existing arrangements, and that is an understatement. That should concern everyone. Yet those who refuse to see the impact of the Irish Sea border voted against us taking any action.

“Electricity is a clear example. The Windsor Framework keeps us tied into an all-island market where household prices are among the highest in Europe, while we are prevented from benefiting from the lower costs paid in England, Scotland and Wales.

“Yet the Secretary of State and others still persist with the bizarre claim that we have the best of both worlds.”