Chris Heaton-Harris is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and MP for Daventry.
In 2016, the British people voted to leave the European Union. In 2019, it was the Conservative and Unionist Party, led by Boris Johnson, that passed the Withdrawal Agreement – delivering on what the people wanted and putting an end to the paralysis in Parliament.
From that point, England, Scotland and Wales have been living free from EU rule, benefiting from increased trade with countries around the world and taking back control of our laws and borders.
For the people of Northern Ireland, however, things have not been so simple. It became apparent that the Northern Ireland Protocol, put in place to avoid a hard border and protect the EU’s Single Market, was not working in the way people expected.
It soon became clear that it was creating serious barriers to trade within the rest of the United Kingdom. Goods freely available in Great Britain started to disappear from shop shelves in Northern Ireland as traders tried to come to terms with the bureaucracy created by the Protocol, effecting everyone in every community in Northern Ireland. The original promises in the Protocol – to protect the U.K internal market and protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions – were also being undermined.
For the Unionist community, this is more than a concern about goods on shelves; many believe the Protocol is pulling Northern Ireland away from the UK’s internal market and into the orbit of the EU’s single market.
Quietly, out of the public eye and led by the Prime Minister, the negotiating team have been beavering away in negotiations with the European Union – making them aware of the very real impact the Protocol is having on the people of Northern Ireland and seeking major political as well as practical changes.
Over the past seven months, we have made it clear the changes that are needed to make sure the Northern Ireland Protocol works for all communities across Northern Ireland. The deal that we have negotiated with the EU delivers that.
It delivers the smooth flow of trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It eliminates the need for cumbersome customs form filling for U.K. internal trade. And most importantly it eliminates any sense of a border in the Irish sea. People buying food in Northern Ireland will now have the same food that is available to us here in Great Britain.
The Windsor Framework introduces a solution on the issue of parcels which can now continue to flow seemlessly when people send them from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without the need for endless paperwork. It allows for the same plants to be available to Northern Ireland as in Great Britain. It removes the current issues we have because steel is subject to an EU tariff rate quota.
And it provides a lasting solution to concerns in Northern Ireland about the supply of medicines. At present a temporary legal fix, based on EU rules, does not provide guarantees of exactly the same medicines being available in Northern Ireland. Under this deal medicines will be overseen by the UK regulator avoiding the need for extra checks and different packaging for medication in Northern Ireland.
The deal also ensures people’s pets can now move freely between Northern Ireland and Great Britain without a pet passport. We have taken back control of VAT and excise for the whole U.K and ended the problem of “reachback” via EU state aid rules.
We have disapplied thousands of pages of EU law. The 3% percent that remains is to ensure single market access. It is the key to tens of thousands of jobs in Northern Ireland and ensure its future prosperity, as they are in businesses that rely on Northern Ireland’s ability to trade simply over the border with the EU.
As a Brexiteer, I believe that all parts of the union should have the same freedoms that Brexit has afforded us so we have put in place a mechanism that will allow for the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure the sovereignty of Northern Ireland is maintained should a law look like it might threaten that. The Assembly can vote, using mechanisms derived from the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, to block damaging new laws coming into effect. This closes the democratic deficit, giving Northern Ireland more than a say but the ability to act.
As a lifelong Eurosceptic and former Chairman of the European Research Group I support this deal strongly. It removes the need for the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill because it ends all trade barriers and protects our Union.
I know over the coming days and weeks my fellow Eurosceptics, will rightly, want to assess the detail of what has been negotiated. I am sure that once they have done that they will see that this deal is a deal that will allow Northern Ireland to prosper while strengthening the bonds that tie our Union together.
Chris Heaton-Harris is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and MP for Daventry.
In 2016, the British people voted to leave the European Union. In 2019, it was the Conservative and Unionist Party, led by Boris Johnson, that passed the Withdrawal Agreement – delivering on what the people wanted and putting an end to the paralysis in Parliament.
From that point, England, Scotland and Wales have been living free from EU rule, benefiting from increased trade with countries around the world and taking back control of our laws and borders.
For the people of Northern Ireland, however, things have not been so simple. It became apparent that the Northern Ireland Protocol, put in place to avoid a hard border and protect the EU’s Single Market, was not working in the way people expected.
It soon became clear that it was creating serious barriers to trade within the rest of the United Kingdom. Goods freely available in Great Britain started to disappear from shop shelves in Northern Ireland as traders tried to come to terms with the bureaucracy created by the Protocol, effecting everyone in every community in Northern Ireland. The original promises in the Protocol – to protect the U.K internal market and protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its dimensions – were also being undermined.
For the Unionist community, this is more than a concern about goods on shelves; many believe the Protocol is pulling Northern Ireland away from the UK’s internal market and into the orbit of the EU’s single market.
Quietly, out of the public eye and led by the Prime Minister, the negotiating team have been beavering away in negotiations with the European Union – making them aware of the very real impact the Protocol is having on the people of Northern Ireland and seeking major political as well as practical changes.
Over the past seven months, we have made it clear the changes that are needed to make sure the Northern Ireland Protocol works for all communities across Northern Ireland. The deal that we have negotiated with the EU delivers that.
It delivers the smooth flow of trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It eliminates the need for cumbersome customs form filling for U.K. internal trade. And most importantly it eliminates any sense of a border in the Irish sea. People buying food in Northern Ireland will now have the same food that is available to us here in Great Britain.
The Windsor Framework introduces a solution on the issue of parcels which can now continue to flow seemlessly when people send them from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without the need for endless paperwork. It allows for the same plants to be available to Northern Ireland as in Great Britain. It removes the current issues we have because steel is subject to an EU tariff rate quota.
And it provides a lasting solution to concerns in Northern Ireland about the supply of medicines. At present a temporary legal fix, based on EU rules, does not provide guarantees of exactly the same medicines being available in Northern Ireland. Under this deal medicines will be overseen by the UK regulator avoiding the need for extra checks and different packaging for medication in Northern Ireland.
The deal also ensures people’s pets can now move freely between Northern Ireland and Great Britain without a pet passport. We have taken back control of VAT and excise for the whole U.K and ended the problem of “reachback” via EU state aid rules.
We have disapplied thousands of pages of EU law. The 3% percent that remains is to ensure single market access. It is the key to tens of thousands of jobs in Northern Ireland and ensure its future prosperity, as they are in businesses that rely on Northern Ireland’s ability to trade simply over the border with the EU.
As a Brexiteer, I believe that all parts of the union should have the same freedoms that Brexit has afforded us so we have put in place a mechanism that will allow for the Northern Ireland Assembly to ensure the sovereignty of Northern Ireland is maintained should a law look like it might threaten that. The Assembly can vote, using mechanisms derived from the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, to block damaging new laws coming into effect. This closes the democratic deficit, giving Northern Ireland more than a say but the ability to act.
As a lifelong Eurosceptic and former Chairman of the European Research Group I support this deal strongly. It removes the need for the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill because it ends all trade barriers and protects our Union.
I know over the coming days and weeks my fellow Eurosceptics, will rightly, want to assess the detail of what has been negotiated. I am sure that once they have done that they will see that this deal is a deal that will allow Northern Ireland to prosper while strengthening the bonds that tie our Union together.