Northern Ireland must be a “priority” in upcoming discussions between the EU and the UK as retailers continue to bear “a lot of pain”, a leading business organisation has said.
The NI Chamber, which represents more than 1,000 businesses, called on the respective leaders to show “ambition” in their future relationship. It said solving the challenges faced by Northern companies post-Brexit would facilitate a closer relationship between London and Brussels.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer will host EU leaders at a landmark summit on May 19th aimed at strengthening ties between the UK and the bloc five years after Brexit. Under the terms of the Windsor Framework, which governs trade to and from Northern Ireland post-Brexit, the North remains in the UK customs territory but applies EU rules to imports.
The NI Chamber’s director of public affairs, Stuart Anderson, said Northern Ireland is “probably not the number one priority” for the EU or the UK, “but it was a sticking point for so long, and we’re at the thin end of the wedge in terms of regulatory divergence”.
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“If it’s the case that the UK wants a better, more trusted relationship with the EU, and the EU wants a better, more trusted relationship with the UK, then the thinner the wedge between GB and Northern Ireland the more likely that that relationship will continue to go in the right direction. We have an opportunity now that can’t be missed.”
The biggest issue for exporters from Britain to Northern Ireland is red tape, said Mr Anderson. Goods are “not necessarily moving as smoothly as we would like...there’s a lot of pain being borne by retailers”.
“Why do we not try to be ambitious enough to remove that red tape? The standout example for me is the ‘not for EU’ labelling...if the EU and UK were operating in a really tight way and had a presumption against divergence on things like ingredients in consumer products, then that should do away with the need for ‘not for EU’ labelling.”
Mr Anderson said the view of senior EU figures was that the relationship with the UK is “better than it’s been in a decade”, and the challenges posed by US president Donald Trump’s tariffs demonstrated Northern Ireland is “always that thing” that demands co-operation between the EU and UK.
“Geopolitics has changed...there’s a lot of alignment [between the UK and EU] in their priorities...what if they decided to have significant levels of co-operation with a presumption against divergence on spaces like regulation of medicines or agri-food?
“That would support economically and socially the relationship between the EU and the UK, but by extension would remove so much of the uncertainty between GB and Northern Ireland and bring about that further level of stability.”
