There could be a step towards a breakthrough in the dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol after the UK and EU reached an agreement on customs, 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 has indicated that this is not necessarily the case.
The FCDO suggested the report was full of speculation, 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.
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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.
The Times reported that the customs deal is largely based on the Government’s proposals for a red and green lanes system – with the green lane for goods from Great Britain which are staying in the region and the red lane to check and control products going on to the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU.
There would be a separate arrangement to negotiate on exports of meat and live animals to Northern Ireland, with the UK agreeing to maintain EU veterinary standards on goods destined for the province.
It has also been claimed that Brussels has made concessions of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), a key sticking point in UK-EU talks.
For the first time, it recognised the ECJ could rule on Northern Ireland issues only if a case was referred by courts there.
In response, the FCDO said: “Our priority is protecting the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and preserving political stability in Northern Ireland and the UK internal market.
“Any solution on the Protocol must address the range of issues on the ground in Northern Ireland.
“We are currently engaging in intensive scoping talks with the EU to find solutions to these problems.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s spokesman on Monday (January 30) also suggested no deal had been struck and that “intensive scoping” was under way.
Both sides are keen to reach an agreement to break the impasse over the contentious trading arrangements before April’s landmark 25th anniversary of Northern Ireland’s historic Good Friday peace agreement.
Many unionists in Northern Ireland are strongly opposed to arrangements they claim have weakened the region’s place within the union.
The devolved powersharing institutions at Stormont collapsed last year after the DUP withdrew co-operation as part of its protest against the protocol.
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