Ulster Unionist Party Windsor Framework spokesperson Dr Steve Aiken OBE MLA has warned of serious consequences for Northern Ireland as EU regulations tighten and grace periods end.

Speaking after today’s Windsor Framework Committee meeting, he said:

“Today our Committee reviewed incoming EU regulations. Listening to the responses from the staff of our most ‘faithful implementation’ department, Alliance Minister Muir’s DAERA, you would be hard pressed to think that the farmers, vets, and pet owners of Northern Ireland have any concerns about the mounting debacle that the soon to arrive Veterinary Medicines Irish Sea Border will bring.

"Rather than engaging with those affected, the department shrugs and blames ‘the Brits’, a familiar Sinn Féin style deflection.

"From 1 January 2026, grace periods end. Expect new customs checks, added bureaucracy, digital rules, and Irish Sea Border controls on new and novel medicines, parcels, cars, and labelling. Yet neither the Government nor the Executive will publish a full list of what’s coming, neither cares enough. As some of our more prescient companies have said, we’re now stuck with the ‘full fat’ version of the Protocol.

"Even tobacco legislation shows the contradictions: UK bans clash with EU rules under the Windsor Framework, despite lung cancer being our biggest killer. Still, Secretary of State Hilary Benn, supported by his fellow EU implementer travellers in Alliance, Sinn Féin, and SDLP, stays silent instead of challenging EU committees.

"So, as a late Christmas gift from these ‘faithful implementors,’ Northern Ireland faces rising costs, increasing divergence, and an unhappy year courtesy of our Euro Grinches.”