Planned EU-UK deal a ‘good day for Northern Ireland' with barriers likely come down

Irish Times

19-05-2025

The announcement of a commitment by the EU and UK to work
towards a deal
which would remove most checks on agri-food products moving between Britain and the North has been hailed as 'a good day for Northern Ireland.'
Speaking following the announcement by the UK prime minister,
Keir Starmer
, and the president of the European Commission,
Ursula von der Leyen
, on Monday, the Tánaiste,
Simon Harris
, said it was 'very important that the unique circumstances of Northern Ireland be taken into account, and that has been done.
'A broad-based SPS [sanitary and phyto-sanitary] agreement would bring significant benefits for Northern Ireland business and consumers, and for the efficient operation of the Windsor Framework,' he said.
The commitment regarding SPS checks was part of a wide-ranging agreement announced following an EU-UK summit, and includes increased co-operation in areas including food, fishing, defence and passport checks.
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According to the text of the agreement on a 'renewed agenda' for EU-UK co-operation, London and Brussels have committed to 'work towards establishing a Common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement' which would result in dynamic alignment on SPS products between the EU and UK.
'This would result in the vast majority of movements of animals, animal products, plants and plant products between Great Britain and the European Union being undertaken without the certificates or controls that are currently required by the rules,' the agreement stated.
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This would also apply to Northern Ireland through the 'interplay of the Windsor Framework and the SPS Agreement, so long as the SPS Agreement is fully implemented' and will 'provide for Northern Ireland maintaining its privileged unique dual access to both the European Union Single Market and the United Kingdom internal market,' it said.
It is not clear how it will take to reach this agreement, but it will require detailed negotiation of the legal text and an implementation process, and therefore could take some time.
The Windsor Framework – which governs post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland - remains in place, and its rules on SPS goods will continue to operate in the meantime.
The North will also remain part of the EU customs union, with customs declarations still required for goods shipped from GB to Northern Ireland.
The need for checks on agrifood products moving between Britain and Northern Ireland – which remains inside the EU single market for goods – has been one of the most economically arduous and politically contentious consequences of Brexit for the North.
Unionists were opposed to the creation of an effective Border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, while economically, physical checks and additional red tape increased costs for businesses and made it harder to import some products.
Reacting to the announcement, the CEO of the NI Chamber, Suzanne Wylie, said it was 'a step in the right direction.
'It is welcome that the reset includes a pathway to an agrifood (SPS) deal and the linking emissions trading schemes,' she said. 'However, local businesses will take time to analyse the detail as and when it emerges.'
She also added that the agreement 'will not solve all the challenges our members face' and said the NI Chamber 'would like to see greater aspiration to tackle regulatory divergence more broadly, and to reduce the customs burden under the Windsor Framework.
'We acknowledge that this is the beginning of a process, we welcome the direction of travel but there is much to do to and a need to move at pace,' she said.
Rain Newton-Smith, the Chief Executive of the CBI, said 'cooperation on SPS measures is a significant win for business.
'Current costs, complexities and delays disrupt trade flows – meaning lost growth in a time of economic need,' Ms Newton-Smith said.
'As both sides look to iron out the details in the coming months, easing trade barriers for Northern Irish firms and supporting island of Ireland supply chains must remain a priority.'
The North's First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, welcomed the announcement but said 'the devil will be in the detail.
'Anything that protects the all-island economy, anything that maximises our access to both markets in terms of trade, anything that removes barriers for trade, then that's something we would obviously very much welcome,' she said.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader, Jim Allister, said the 'surrender of UK fishing waters for another 12 years to the EU is the most vivid illustration of the [UK] government's agenda to sabotage Brexit.
'The deal copper-fastens NI as EU territory,' he said, adding that despite the 'spin of diminishing the Irish Sea Border' a number of points of divergence between the UK and Northern Ireland remained.