20 May 2020

FT: EU expected to balk at proposals for ‘absolute minimum’ checks on trade across Irish Sea

The UK is heading for a new clash with Brussels over its plan to introduce minimal border checks on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as it implements the Brexit deal struck with the EU last October.

Michael Gove, cabinet office minister, told MPs on Wednesday he wanted to protect the “integrity of the UK single market”, ensuring that trade flowed across the Irish Sea with the bare minimum of checks and bureaucracy. But Mr Gove’s plan is likely to run into opposition from the EU, which wants rigorous checks on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland to protect the integrity of its own single market as under the UK-EU deal the north-south border in Ireland will be left open.

Mr Gove set out in a paper for the first time how the UK intended to implement the so-called Northern Ireland protocol — agreed alongside Britain’s exit deal with the EU last year — which left the region uniquely placed in both EU and UK customs zones.

© FT plc