Government hails deal with EU to allow certain UK trade deal products into Northern Ireland

Full details of the arrangements will be “published in due course” - but the government says they will ensure NI traders “can fully benefit from the UK’s independent free trade policy”.

NIO minister Steve Baker said: “This major milestone illustrates the UK Government’s commitment to maximising trade and opportunities for Northern Ireland's businesses. This unique arrangement will mean NI importers will be able to benefit from UK Free Trade Agreements, further cementing NI’s place in the UK. I look forward to our further work to safeguard the Union.”

However, TUV leader Jim Allister said the very fact the UK has to get an agreement with a foreign power to allow passage of UK trade deal produce to NI “underscores how much the Protocol bestowed and maintains sovereignty over NI to Brussels”.

The NIO says the deal means that over 13,000 tons of lamb, beef, and poultry including from free trade agreement partners such as Australia and New Zealand will now be covered by UK tariff rate quotas – which it says will significantly benefit NI businesses, and “further cements NI’s integral place in the UK”.

The deal was ratified by Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Vice President Maroš Šefčovič in Brussels on Thursday. The new arrangements will be become active from 30 September 2024 – when the Windsor Framework’s green lane arrangements come into force.

They have been rebranded the UK Internal Market system by the government, following its Safeguarding the Union command paper. That deal promised an end to checks on goods, but it remains to be seen whether that will happen.

When the government was questioned by the DUP MP Carla Lockhart on a commitment in the Safeguarding the Union deal that the government will remove checks when goods, an official said that it wouldn’t remove the “fundamental underpinning” of its deal with the EU.