Speaking as The EU’s new General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) come into force, Ulster Unionist Party member of the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee, Dr. Steve Aiken OBE commented.

“Today many of us will find an early, but very unwelcome Xmas present, especially if we have been trying to do some online shopping with the rest of our country.

“The EU’s General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) come into force, causing extra layers of cost and bureaucracy to companies in England, Scotland and Wales trying to sell into Northern Ireland. How this latest example of the chilling effect of the Irish Sea Border can be seen in any way as challenging the integrity of the EU Single Market is beyond me, and, I imagine, nearly every right-minded consumer in Northern Ireland.

“Our Party has been calling out these collective absurdities for some time. On the 28th November we even sought to have the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee look at the impact of this regulation and its significant and enduring harm to everyday life here.

“To the surprise of no one, the Alliance and Sinn Fein members voted it down; as they have every attempt to put NI interests above those of the EU. By passing the request to look at the issue to another committee, they are just passing the buck.

“The cumulative effect on our economy of EU regulations is increasingly causing divergence across the United Kingdom. Similar measures, if they were adopted by the UK against the EU, would be howled down and inquires instituted; the failure of the Assembly to fulfil, even the most basic scrutiny measures on something as disruptive as GPSR, lets us all down.

“The constant ‘EU good, UK bad’ mantra from Sinn Fein can be expected, from Alliance, putting the interests of businesses in the EU, above our own consumers, has also become the norm. A point the electorate may reflect on in the coming years”