UK-EU agri-deal demonstrates ‘lack of ambition’ from Government, DUP claims

An anticipated UK-EU deal on food and plants does not go far enough and demonstrates a “lack of ambition” by the Government, the leader of the DUP has said.

Gavin Robinson’s comments came in response to reports that a draft text has been agreed between London and Brussels that would see Great Britain and the European Union align on trade rules on SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) goods.

Under current post-Brexit rules, Northern Ireland already aligns with the bloc on SPS rules – an arrangement that led to the creation of the so-called Irish Sea border, with checks and controls required on goods being transported into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.

Many of these processes would be scrapped if a deal is finalised that sees Great Britain similarly align with the EU on SPS produce.

Responding to the prospect of an agreement, Mr Robinson highlighted that in many other aspects of post-Brexit rules, such as customs arrangements, Northern Ireland is still treated differently to the rest of the UK.

Northern Ireland operates under EU customs rules, meaning that customs declarations are required on many goods arriving in the region from Great Britain.

The DUP collapsed devolved powersharing in Northern Ireland for two years between 2022 and 2024 in protest at the barriers created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK by post-Brexit rules.

The rules were agreed by the UK and the EU to ensure a free-flowing Irish land border after Brexit.

That was achieved by introducing new regulatory and customs checks on the movement of goods from GB into Northern Ireland.

Many unionists are vehemently opposed to arrangements they contend have undermined Northern Ireland’s place within the UK.

The DUP only agreed to return to Stormont in early 2024 after the last Conservative government agreed the Windsor Framework with the EU – a deal that aimed to reduce some of the red tape associated with the trading arrangements and give the Northern Ireland Assembly a role in scrutinising the European rules that apply in the region.

“I don’t agree with the Government’s approach to their engagement with the European Union. I take issue with it,” Mr Robinson told BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday.

“But if this is the approach they want to go down, why do it in a whack-a-mole, single-issue, one-off approach, sector by sector, when, in actual fact, what they should and could be doing is ensuring that Northern Ireland is within the entirety of the United Kingdom when it comes to these negotiations. That we’re not in a separate and distinct structure.

“And if they are being serious about their approach, there’s no justification for keeping us separate and distinct.”

He added: “When I say this Government lacks ambition, my question to them is this – if they are willing to ignore 2016, ignore the referendum and agree alignment in so many areas of life, why do they continue to keep Northern Ireland separate from the rest of the United Kingdom?

“That is something that we will be talking to them about, have raised with them, and will continue to raise because it is not logistically or sensibly possible, and it’s a constitutional affront for them to keep us separate from the rest of our country when they are accepting alignment in so many facets of trade.”

Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken said reports of a deal on SPS should be “broadly, albeit cautiously, welcomed”.

He suggested the agreement could be “just tinkering around the margins” rather than moving to place where Northern Ireland is no longer treated separately from the rest of the UK.

“Tellingly, according to informed sources, this agreement is a GB-only arrangement,” he told the Stormont Assembly on Tuesday.

“As we know, Northern Ireland remains and continues to be separate from the rest of our nation on a vast swathe of other EU regulations, tariffs and duties.

“None of these proposed SPS arrangements changes the fact that Northern Ireland remains within the European Customs Union, and that the implementation of the new Union Customs Code, the considerable divergence, disruption, with its resultant added extra bureaucracy, means that cost to do business with our largest market, our own country, will escalate.”