The UK and EU have reached an agreement on customs that could signal a step towards a breakthrough in the dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol, it has been reported. According to The Times, the EU has accepted a plan that would avoid routine checks on goods going into Northern Ireland.
However, a Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) source indicated that the claim a deal had been struck did not reflect the reality of the current state of the talks. The FCDO suggested the newspaper’s report was speculative, saying officials were engaged in “intensive scoping talks” with Brussels and declining to pre-empt the discussions.
The protocol was agreed by the UK and EU in 2019 as a way to unlock the logjam over securing a Brexit withdrawal agreement. Designed as a means to keep the Irish land border free-flowing, it moved regulatory and customs checks on goods to the Irish Sea, creating economic barriers on trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
