UFU gives cautious welcome to Windsor Framework
© Peter/Adobe Stock The president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union has issued a cautious welcome to Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework deal with the EU and its prospects for trade in agri-food products to and from Northern Ireland.
David Brown sounded an optimistic note that the deal hammered out between the prime minister and EU chief Ursula von de Leyen will replace the Northern Ireland Protocol and help facilitate trade in agri-products with minimal friction.
“In our conversations with Defra yesterday (Monday 27 February), there are indications that there is a new atmosphere,” Mr Brown told Farmers Weekly.
See also: Changes to livestock movements between NI and GB
“There also seems to be more of a positive engagement in terms of discussions with the EU.
“While most solutions have not been achieved to date, two years on from the protocol coming into force, we’re getting an indication that there is a lot more engagement towards solutions that would work on the ground.”
Political agreement
After months of negotiations, the UK government announced on Monday that it had reached a political agreement with the EU Commission on the Windsor Framework.
Mr Sunak has promised MPs they will have a vote on the deal and the result will be respected. Labour has signalled its support, but it is not clear whether the Democratic Unionist Party will back it.
If approved, he said it will replace the old NI protocol and “fix the practical problems for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland”.
The prime minister said the framework will deliver free-flowing trade in goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland through a so-called “green lane” and removes any sense of a hard border in the Irish Sea for goods staying within the UK.
The Agricultural Industries Confederation said a deal that improves the flow of trade by minimising customs checks and administrative processes would be “an encouraging step forward”. But it awaits to see the full detail.
NFU Scotland said it would enquire whether livestock will be included in the green lane plan.
How it works in practice
Companies that register for a trusted trader scheme will be able to use a green lane at Northern Irish ports for goods destined for Northern Ireland, reducing the need for red tape.
For goods going the other way, from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, the deal scraps export declarations and delivers unfettered trade.
Goods destined to travel into Ireland and the EU’s single market would be placed in a red lane and would have to undergo full customs, food and animal health checks.
Some details have emerged about what the framework would mean in practice for trade in food and agricultural commodities, if agreed.
The agreement will remove more than 60 EU food and drink rules in the original Northern Ireland Protocol covering well over 1,000 pages of law, the government says.
Previously banned imported seed potatoes from Great Britain, and in particular Scotland, will be allowed into NI, but not to the rest of Ireland.
The current three-year “grace period” for the movement of veterinary medicines between Great Britain and Northern Ireland will remain unchanged.