The UK government under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Monday (February 27) reached a landmark deal with the European Union (EU) on post-Brexit trade rules that will govern Northern Ireland.
The ‘Windsor Framework’ will replace the Northern Ireland Protocol, which had proved to be among the thorniest of Brexit fall-outs, creating problems both economic and political.
Why was the Northern Ireland Protocol such a vexed issue? How does the new deal propose to iron out its problems? What is the Stormont Brake that it has introduced? How have the key stakeholders reacted so far? We explain.
The Northern Ireland Protocol problem
After the UK left the European Union, Northern Ireland remained its only constituent that shared a land border with an EU-member, the Republic of Ireland. Since the EU and the UK have different product standards, border checks would be necessary before goods could move from Northern Ireland to Ireland.
However, the two Irelands have had a long history of conflict, with a hard-fought peace secured only in 1998 under the Belfast Agreement, also called the Good Friday agreement. Fiddling with this border was thus considered too dangerous, and it was decided the checks would be conducted between Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and Northern Ireland (which together with Great Britain forms the United Kingdom). This was called the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Under the protocol, Northern Ireland remained in the EU single market, and trade-and-customs inspections of goods coming from Great Britain took place at its ports along the Irish Sea.
The checks made trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland cumbersome, with food products, especially, losing out on shelf life while they waited for clearance. Some taxation and spending policies of the UK government could not be implemented in Northern Ireland because of EU rules. The sale of medicines, too, was caught between different British and EU rules.
Also, any kind of border in the Irish Sea irked those who want a united United Kingdom. Significantly, one such person was Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland. The DUP has not allowed Stormont, its Parliament, to function since last year, because of its opposition to the Protocol.
What the Windsor Framework proposes
The framework has two crucial aspects – the introduction of a green lane and red lane system for goods that will stay in Northern Ireland and those that will go to the EU respectively; and the ‘Stormont Brake’, which allows Northern Ireland lawmakers and London to veto any EU regulation they believe affects the region adversely.
The two lanes
British goods meant for Northern Ireland will use the green lane at the ports, and will be allowed to pass with minimal paperwork and checks. Physical checks will be conducted if the goods are deemed suspicious, in place of the routine checks now.
This is especially significant for meat products, such as sausages, travelling between the two parts of the UK, as the EU has stricter rules about animal products. Also, people in Northern Ireland can order goods online from Britain easily now. Because of the cumbersome checks, many firms had stopped deliveries to Northern Ireland. Plants and seeds can move easily now, and pets can travel without “expensive health treatments like rabies or documentation from a vet”, according to the UK government’s website.
“The same medicines, in the same packs, with the same labels, will be available across the UK, without the need for barcode scanning requirements under the old Protocol. The UK will license all medicines for all UK citizens, including novel medicines like cancer drugs, rather than the European Medicines Agency under the old Protocol,” the government website says.
Goods destined for Ireland or the rest of the EU will have to take the red lane, with the attendant customs and other checks.
What is Stormont Brake
“The new Stormont Brake means the democratically elected Northern Ireland Assembly can oppose new EU goods rules that would have significant and lasting effects on everyday lives in Northern Ireland,” says the government. For this, they will need the support of 30 members from at least two parties. The British government can then veto the law.
This provision, the Sunak government hopes, will persuade the DUP to allow Stormont to restart functioning.
How have stakeholders reacted
With the Windsor Framework, PM Sunak hopes to improve trade and other ties with the EU, while keeping the hard Brexiter faction of his Conservative Party happy. The deal has allowed Sunak to do away with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill introduced by his predecessor Boris Johnson, which involved the UK government reneging on the promise it made to the EU to follow the Protocol.
Reactions to the new deal in political circles have been cautious, but not negative. Most leaders have said the agreement on the face of it looks promising, though they would properly comment only after studying it in detail.
DUP leader Donaldson told BBC on Tuesday, “I do think that what has been proposed at first reading does give Stormont the ability to apply the brake where the application of EU law for the purposes of facilitating cross-border trade impacts on our ability to trade with the rest of the United Kingdom. I have said that progress has been made. We continue to have some concerns.”
Industry associations have openly welcomed the deal. Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman, a strong critic of the Northern Ireland Protocol, said the new agreement was a “big step forward”, the BC reported.
The Horticulture Trades Association said they were “pleased that common sense has prevailed in this agreement and much of what we have asked for has been listened to”, while the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said the agreement “appears to bring a return to a single UK market for medicines, providing the permanent solution that our members have been calling for”, the BBC reported.
The US has also welcomed the deal. President Joe Biden, who has often spoken of his Irish roots, had in the past cautioned against disturbing the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
After the deal was announced, Biden said in a statement, “Today’s announcement between the United Kingdom and the European Union on the Windsor Framework is an essential step to ensuring that the hard-earned peace and progress of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is preserved and strengthened. I appreciate the efforts of the leaders and officials on all sides who worked tirelessly to find a way forward that protects Northern Ireland’s place within the UK’s internal market as well as the EU’s single market, to the benefit of all communities in Northern Ireland.”
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shake hands after a press conference at Windsor Guildhall, Windsor, England, on February 27. (Photo: AP) 
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