Brexit row explodes over hated deal as 13 key restrictions it places on the UK laid bare
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The Prime Minister unveiled a document highlighting 46 benefits deriving from the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement signed with Brussels. But Facts4EU campaigners unpicked at least 13 of those benefits that fail to apply to all parts of the UK.
As Northern Ireland remains shackled to the EU’s single market and customs union under the Brexit Protocol, the nation is lagging behind other parts of the UK when it comes to fully enjoying the benefits of Brexit.
Among those listed by the Government, Facts4EU identified Northern Ireland’s inability to restore democratic control over domestic laws, the incumbent role of the European Court of Justice as the final arbiter, the use of crown stamps on pint glasses, Freeport’s, and duty free for UK consumers.
The full list also included: “Giving UK regulators the ability and the resources to make sovereign decisions about globally significant mergers;
“Undertaking reviews of the status and substance of retained EU law;
“Reviewing the EU ban on imperial markings and sales;
“Establishing our own subsidy regime to support British businesses and innovation;
“Reforming and simplifying our public procurement rules so that the public sector can buy more local goods and services;
“Transforming the UK’s approach to clinical trials research and providing the British public with faster access to new, innovative medical treatments;
“Banning the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter;
“And ending the abhorrent, cruel practice of puppy smuggling and low-welfare pet import.”
The furious campaigners added: “We said at the time the greatest omission of the “Benefits of Brexit” document was its failure to acknowledge the harm of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“Today’s Facts4EU report lays bare the extent to which there is still work to be done.
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“Be it the ability to deliver simple changes such as using Imperial Measures or larger changes such as reforming procurement or state aid rules – these cannot be done because the UK Government does not have the power to act in its own sovereign territory. This is what campaigners are seeking to overturn.
“This is also what those who are against such change – be it Sinn Fein, the SDLP, or the Alliance Party are seeking to preserve.
“It is also what Rejoiners wish to preserve and indeed spread back over the Irish Sea to mainland Britain. They would ideally have the Protocol reign over the whole of the UK.
“Brexit will not be done, not be complete, until this great wrong is righted, so we must continue to report on the failures of the Protocol and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement more generally.”
It comes as Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots criticised the “huge” operating costs of Northern Ireland Protocol checks.
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He detailed around £8.65 million of expenditure throughout 2021 but said other costs outside of his department meant the overall total was significantly higher.
Mr Poots, who last week ordered a unilateral halt to the agri-food checks, was responding to a Stormont Assembly question posed by Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister.
A High Court judge has suspended Mr Poots’s direction to stop checks on incoming GB goods pending a full legal challenge into his decision next month.
Addressing the Assembly on Tuesday, the minister said the salary costs of the additional staff needed to complete the checks at Northern Ireland ports was around £4,447,500. He claimed that total included almost £1 million on agency staff.
He claimed the running costs of the checking facilities in Northern Ireland and the service contract for lorry seal checks carried out on the GB side of the Irish Sea totalled £4.2million.
Mr Poots highlighted that local council staff were also involved in the checks and that expenditure was covered through the Food Standards Agency.
He also pointed to £200 million the Government has invested in a Trade Support Service (TSS) to help companies deal with the customs processes required by the protocol.
“So the costs of the protocol to Northern Ireland is huge,” the minister told the Assembly.
“It’s extensive and you know that is why we need to get solutions. Because nobody realistically can argue that, as the protocol exists, it is good for Northern Ireland.
“You cannot have this burden placed upon business and this cost placed upon the taxpayer and claim it to be good.”
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