The Northern Ireland protocol is said to be a blight on regional economy. That’s just not true

A lorry arriving in Larne from Stranraer: ‘The benefits of full access to the EU single market and the rest of the UK outweighs the costs of administering checks.’ Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

Whenever Boris Johnson’s government wades into battle over the Northern Ireland protocol, it wields one assertion like a broadsword: that the protocol is ruining the region’s economy. Checks on goods entering Northern Ireland are disrupting trade, increasing prices and bankrupting businesses, and the damage will worsen unless the protocol is changed, goes the argument.

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), a rightwing thinktank, joined the fray last week with a report that estimated the annual cost of the agreement at £850m.