Why the Northern Ireland Protocol must go

London, (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The Northern Ireland protocol must go. No ifs no buts. It has failed. It is not fit for purpose, it is destroying trade within the UK single market; damaging community relations on the island of Ireland and undermining political stability.

That is the simple fact that after a year of its implementation – and we are on the Protocol Lite version for now – the protocol is simply not working. Designed as a special measure to “protect the peace process” when the peace process was never under any threat from Brexit, the UJK government foolishly got themselves into a trap of believing they had to put this special measure in place to protect peace, and ensure the protection of the European single market from being penetrated by goods destined only for the UK.

How, foolish they were to entertain notions that the protocol would be able to solve a problem that didn’t exist. Almost 80% of all goods made in NI and traded between NI and GB and between GB & NI are destined only for the UK internal market. Most of NI trade is with GB. Take farming. Our 20000 farm businesses here make food for 17 million people. As NI has only 1.7 million people the vast majority of our food is made for the rest of the UK. Yet, the UK government allowed themselves to be hoodwinked into thinking they had a duty to protect the European single market from UK goods. How utterly foolish they were!

It is up to the European community to protect its single market . Northern Ireland is not some proxy zone, some economic no-mans-land between the UK and the EU destined to be a clearing house for anything that potentially might find its way into the EU single market. If the Eu has a problem defending its own borders that is a matter for the EU to address. The UK, in some act of self-harm decided that it would take on the responsibility of protecting the EU single market.

At the time of the negotiations imbeciles from nationalism were putting up the bogyman of building a wall on the border and manning that wall. That was pure distraction. No unionist called for any such measures. In fact, the UK government ought to have called the EUs bluff and told them if they wanted such measure it was up to the EU to man a border on the island. They would never have done that – although they did come close during the covid crisis of stopping all vehicles between NI and the republic. That aside, the UK fell into a trap of creating a problem for northern Ireland of sustaining it as a place apart and not allowing it to be fully integrated into the Brexit new order.

Now a cottage industry of pressure groups and spokesmen and form fillers have been established to inflict upon NI business a tsunami of form filling and bureaucracy that the ancient regime of the EU would be proud of. For every item on an invoice a trader in the UK has to fill in a form that has itself got 23 dropdown boxes on it. That takes time and as the saying goes time is money. For many in GB this is just too much nuisance and trade is diverted elsewhere. So British business is denied sales in one part of the UK and consumers in that part of the UK are directed to the EU to do their business. This is trade diversion and is illegal, yet it is happening under our very nose.

For months now the UK government has recognised that the protocol is not fulfilling its purpose. They say it was designed to protect the peace process and respect all communities but that the experience of a year of its operation has been the opposite  on all communities. The UK propose a renegotiation of the protocol that there should be no checks or documentation for goods moving between GB and NI and that only those goods destined for the EU (a small amount ) would face potential checks. Currently we have more checks on goods entering NI than on the Belarus /EU border The government admits that the operation of the protocol is so bad that it is undermining business, and generating community instability. That being so the protocol must go.

Northern Ireland citizens are being treated as foreigners in their own country. Our sovereign and legal entitlement to be an integral part of the UK has been damaged and we must have our place restored. The protocol only serves to weaken the Union and for a conservative and unionist government to preside of this catastrophe is a shameful disgrace.