An overhauled Brexit deal for Northern Ireland keeps the border down the Irish Sea and there will still not be free trade within the United Kingdom, former deputy DUP leader Lord Dodds has said. He lambasted a move by the UK Government enabling the expansion and enhancement of border control posts at ports in the region, which he argued would serve to “cement in the reality” of the situation, while other critics at Westminster branded it “a humiliation”.
But ministers insist the improvement of the facilities needed to be undertaken in any scenario “with the primary purpose of controlling goods travelling via Northern Ireland into the European Union”. Lord Dodds’ comments about the Windsor Framework are likely to cause concern in Downing Street, which hoped the agreement would restore powersharing at Stormont.
There was also criticism by Baroness Hoey, a Northern Irish Brexit supporter and former Labour MP, who argued Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had “over-egged” the deal and was treating people like they were “stupid”.
Speaking in Parliament Lord Dodds said: “The construction of these border control posts at each of our ports in Northern Ireland is being done because the controls cover not just goods being moved from Great Britain into the EU via the Irish Republic as some of the spin would suggest.
“They are being constructed because companies wishing to trade with Northern Ireland from Great Britain must still fulfil European requirements, including a level of checks. Great Britain is still treated as a third country as far as Northern Ireland is concerned under the new arrangements.”
Lord Dodds added: “Contrary to what the Prime Minister told us, the border remains in place for taking goods to Northern Ireland that end up staying in Northern Ireland. What the new deal does is to keep the reality of the Irish Sea border completely in place, but to mitigate its effect not remove it, through a reduction in bureaucracy, but only for companies who can declare for certain that none of their goods will over the border.
“So border control posts are necessary not just for goods destined for the Irish Republic, but for all goods where there is any uncertainty about their end destination such that one cannot be absolutely sure they won’t end up in the Republic. That is not free trade within the United Kingdom.”
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