Business organisations in Northern Ireland have given a cautious welcome to Sir Keir Starmer’s UK-EU Reset Deal, announced in London today (Monday).
The NI Chamber of Commerce said that the deal wouldn’t solve every problem but was a ‘step in the right direction’.
“With an escalation in geo-political uncertainty and the cost of doing business, we want to see a deal that delivers meaningful change to drive growth and address common challenges like food security, energy, and healthcare,” said Chief Executive Suzanne Wylie.
“Whether its removing frictions on the flow of goods that ease GB-NI trade or making progress in areas that support cross-border services, there are many areas that could be beneficial for Northern Ireland.
“It is welcome that the reset includes a pathway to an agrifood (SPS) deal and the linking emissions trading schemes . However, local businesses will take time to analyse the detail as and when it emerges. NI Chamber has been calling on the UK government to reach an SPS agreement that is ambitious enough to substantially reduce bureaucracy for all operators in our agrifood supply chain. We have also been calling for ETS linkage to avoid the risk of further potential barriers to trade with the EU or Great Britain on the road to decarbonisation.
“But the agreement announced today will not solve all the challenges our members face. We would like to see greater aspiration to tackle regulatory divergence more broadly, and to reduce the customs burden under the Windsor Framework.”
“We acknowledge that this is the beginning of a process, we welcome the direction of travel but there is much to do to and a need to move at pace. We look forward to engaging with policymakers to ensure that Northern Ireland’s businesses and households stand to benefit from the outworkings of today’s announcement.”
Professor Ursula Lavery MBE, Chair of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association (NIFDA) and Technical and R&D Director at Pilgrim’s Europe said:
“Since the referendum and in all subsequent negotiations, the priority for food and drink manufacturers in Northern Ireland has been for a durable negotiated solution that maintains frictionless trade and expands the opportunities for our businesses to thrive.
“We have been working with government at all levels to get improvements in the bureaucracy around moving food as a result of Brexit. Added bureaucracy increases costs for businesses, which ultimately makes food more expensive.
“The food and drink industry in Northern Ireland therefore broadly welcomes today’s announcement as a step to potentially easing the administrative burden on businesses here, and helping offset some of the significant on-costs firms have experienced recently, including national insurance rises and extended producer responsibility.”
Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said that the new deal represents significant progress toward an improved EU UK relationship which can only be positive for Northern Irelands economy.
“Retail NI hope that the SPS deal will dramatically reduce Irish Sea border friction and checks which will be good news for our members and most importantly for consumers”