Speaking in the House of Lords on the Windsor Framework (Retail Movement Scheme: Plant Health) Amendment Regulations, Ulster Unionist Peer Lord Elliott of Ballinamallard said that it now appears that not only is Northern Ireland being required to accept EU regulations, but Great Britain is being required to accept some of those same EU regulations.

Lord Elliott said:

“Since the introduction of the protocol and the Windsor Framework, we have witnessed a significant divergence of trade and goods movement between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, although many of us have not agreed with it. We now appear to be witnessing Great Britain being required to accept those EU regulations.

“Is this a situation of 'back to the future'? The detail of this particular legislation may be relatively minor, but today in the Lords Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee we had a number of regulations for consideration. These ranged from electric vehicles to animal feed safety, cereal products, vegetables, nuts, fruits, honey, jellies, veterinary products and now the EUDR, the European deforestation regulations. How many more of these are we going to have to contemplate over the forthcoming years?

“It is the public and the businesses who are suffering in all this, administratively and financially. In Northern Ireland, we know the significant negative impact this has had over the last number of years on businesses, particularly small businesses, as they try to bring in goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.”