In 2021, over 10,000 businesses have completed one million customs declarations and moved goods from the UK to Northern Ireland. This is the first year of operation of the post-Brexit checks that London is currently trying to phase out.
Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, which is part of the UK’s withdrawal agreement from the European Union, since the UK left last year, Northern Ireland is effectively a single unit of EU commodities, given its open borders with the Republic. remained in the market.
This necessitated the introduction of checks for goods moving from the UK to Northern Ireland. First annual data from the UK Tax Office showed that €12.4 billion worth of goods had to be declared.
A law allowing the UK to do away with checks is passing parliament, a move that raises the risk of a trade war and renewed clashes between London and Brussels. Next week’s UK prime minister candidate, Liz Truss, said she was determined to bring the bill in full.
The bill has faced strong criticism from business groups in the EU and Northern Ireland, who hope to relax checks through negotiations, and unilateral action from London has eroded benefits gained under the Protocol. I am afraid that I might be caught.
The Northern Ireland Bureau of Statistics has yet to release data comparing trade with the UK in 2021 and 2020 when checks were unnecessary.
Trade across the island’s open borders has grown rapidly, with goods movements from Northern Ireland to the south increasing by 65% last year and exports to Northern Ireland increasing by 54%.
