The Northern Ireland Secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, has asserted that the new system of moving goods from Great Britain into Northern Ireland will be successful. He explained that although there were concerns among unionist parties about additional checks on goods moving between countries that share a land border with the European Union, the new controls will be effective and frictionless. The Windsor Framework includes new labelling and red and green lane operations at ports to facilitate easier trade. Mr. Heaton-Harris made these statements after the arrangements came into force last week.
He urged the public to reserve their judgement until they see for themselves how frictionless the new controls will be. According to him, the paperwork required for businesses in the new trusted trader scheme will be the same as that needed for goods moving from his constituency in Daventry to the Isle of White. The Northern Ireland Secretary is of the opinion that the new controls are so straightforward that more than 1,600 new businesses have registered via the green lane.
Despite the DUP protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements, the Stormont institutions are yet to function. The secretary of state said that progress has been made on the issue, saying that his meetings with the DUP have been productive, and that he knows what would satisfy them with regards to making sure the offer from the government is in that space.
Mr. Heaton-Harris addressed the Conservative Party conference in Manchester last Sunday, stating that the government would find ways to address the concerns of the unionist community regarding the Windsor Framework. The new system will mean that the significant majority of trade flowing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will be treated as UK internal trade, according to the Northern Ireland Secretary. The UK’s public health and safety standards will apply to retail food and drink in Northern Ireland while the Not for EU labels on Great Britain food products are designed to assure the EU that products will not be wrongly sold in its internal market
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