The taxpayer has spent billions of pounds preparing Britain for post-Brexit food checks that are to be scrapped as part of Labour’s reset with the European Union.
Later this month Andy Burnham is due to unveil a new deal with Brussels that will eliminate controls on food and agricultural goods crossing the Channel and the Irish Sea. The prime minister said on Tuesday that the deal could increase Britain’s long-term growth by 0.4 per cent of GDP.
But the deal will mean that several billion pounds’ worth of projects introduced under the previous Conservative government to prepare the UK for the new checks will have been wasted.
This includes about £750m spent over three years to implement the Windsor framework that processes goods crossing between Britain and Northern Ireland.
It also includes hundreds of millions spent on setting up eight temporary inspection units around ports that were due to implement phytosanitary checks, which show if plant products are free from pests or diseases, on foods entering the UK from Europe. Those checks have never been implemented.
It also includes hundreds of millions spent on setting up eight temporary inspection units around ports that were due to implement phytosanitary checks, which show if plant products are free from pests or diseases, on foods entering the UK from Europe. Those checks have never been implemented.
Overall, the National Audit Office has estimated that the taxpayer has spent about £4.7bn on 13 significant border-related programmes between 2019 and this year
While those programmes include the cost of updating Britain’s customs systems, which is not included under the current deal, many relate to the food checks and implementing the new trade border in the Irish Sea.
The local reaction picked up the next point – customs rules
Andrew Lynas, managing director of Lynas Foodservice, welcomed the draft agreement, describing it as a “big step forward” for Northern Ireland food businesses.
“It should mean shorter lead times for us. It should mean that lots of GB suppliers who weren’t an option start to become an option again.”
However, he told Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra programme that more needed to be done to address customs issues, adding: “It is good news, but there is more still to come.
More to come from the DUP on new customs rules, invoking the Stormont Brake, the device in the Windsor Framework intended to give the Assembly a degree of consent to EU arrangements it previously dismissed as a paper tiger
The DUP has confirmed it will seek to trigger the Stormont Brake in response to new EU customs rules.
Due to come into effect in September 2027, the new Union Customs Code will introduce revised rules for importers and exporters, in a bid to streamline and centralise the EU customs system.
Under post-Brexit trading arrangements, Northern Ireland operates under EU customs rules, meaning that customs declarations are required on many goods arriving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
The Stormont Break — a mechanism contained in the Windsor Framework — allows the Assembly to object to new EU rules automatically applying to Northern Ireland.
It requires the support of at least 30 MLAs from two or more parties to be triggered. If this happens, the UK Government would then assess whether the rule meets set thresholds.
The Stormont brake is more of a pause to consider than a power to reject. It sets a high bar to reject a new EUmeasure and can be overruled by the UK Government if the rules being challenged do not have “ a significant effect” on Northern Ireland
Former BBC journalist and manager in Belfast, Manchester and London, Editor Spolight; Political Editor BBC NI; Current Affairs Commissioning editor BBC Radio 4; Editor Political and Parliamentary Programmes, BBC Westminster; former London Editor Belfast Telegraph. Hon Senior Research Fellow, The Constitution Unit, Univ Coll. London
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