Northern Ireland business groups are calling for a six-month delay to Brexit checks in the Irish Sea, saying that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s late admission that he is legally obliged to implement them has left them no time to prepare for the December cliff edge.
They have also hit out at Downing Street secrecy, saying that they are refusing to discuss the plans with the very people that needed to implement them.
Their call for a six-month “adjustment period” falls short of the extension to the transition period that the Stormont assembly unexpectedly agreed to call for earlier this week.
However, they warned that Northern Ireland businesses would go to the wall unless they are given more time by the UK and the EU to set themselves up for the unprecedented changes to the way they trade with Britain.
Responding to the government’s command paper on the Northern Ireland protocol with a list of 60 unanswered questions, they urged British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who is charged with implementing the withdrawal agreement, to urgently engage with them.
“The level of engagement we have with the UK government across a raft of policy areas is really good, but when it comes to this Brexit issue, it’s really locked down and controlled. There is no real defined engagement from them,” said Stephen Kelly, chief executive of trade group Manufacturing Northern Ireland.
Engagement levels were worse than during former British prime minister Theresa May’s reign and were completely “unacceptable,” as the Northern Ireland protocol kicks in on Jan. 1 next year, whether there is a trade deal or not, he said.
Although May’s approach to the Irish border cost May her premiership, business groups said that there was at least discussion.
“The current approach is very much: ‘Hold it tight and don’t be telling anyone anything unless they really have to hear it.’ It isn’t acceptable... It isn’t appropriate. At the end of the day, we are the only people that will deliver this Brexit thing. We’re the ones that will be asked to make this a success,” Kelly said.
Fourth-round talks on the trade and future relationship deal the UK and the EU want to strike were scheduled to finish yesterday, but there was little expectation of any breakthrough.
A deal would have little effect on the new trading environment that must swing into place in Northern Ireland on Jan. 1 as part of the deal to avoid checks and risk peace on the Irish border.
Northern Ireland Retail Consortium director Aodhan Connolly said that firms were realistic and knew that the government was not looking to extend the transition period.
Businesses were willing to help the government make the new Brexit protocol work, but it was “mission critical” to involve them with just seven months to go, he said.
Businesses said that there is little capacity for planning, with delays on the British side compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even if they had the “bandwidth,” they said that they could not prepare, because the government has kept them in the dark on the details of customs and regulatory checks that are to be imposed.
“We had said from January that this was going to be a Herculean task to get everything done in time for Jan. 1 — it has only gotten harder,” Connolly said.
Business groups have already asked for financial compensation for the extra costs they will incur.
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