Reacting to the publication of Lord Murphy’s Independent Review into the Windsor Framework Neil Johnston, Director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium has called on the Secretary of State, Hilary Benn to be more proactive in protecting the UK internal market.
The Northern Ireland Retail Consortium welcomes Lord Murphy’s Report in that it recognises the concerns of businesses about the burden and cost of the Windsor Framework. We hope that the Secretary of State will act to keep businesses fully engaged on the proposed SPS deal and act to ensure that a deal comes as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Secretary of State needs to ensure that consumers in Northern Ireland do not lose out.
Retailers have been to the fore in implementing the Windsor Framework in a way that has largely ensured that customers in Northern Ireland have generally not noticed much difference in the broad range of products on the shelves.
Complying with these regulations has been bureaucratic and costly for retailers, however, and that is why we welcomed the prospect of a deal on SPS arrangements when the UK and EU announced their desire for this in May. Unnecessary bureaucracy leads to additional costs which ultimately will impact on prices faced by consumers.
We understand that negotiations on the details can take time, but it would be to the benefit of all concerned if a deal could be reached sooner rather than later. We would encourage the UK government to try to reach a deal begore 2027.
What is vitality important, however, is that, given the commitment to a deal on both sides the current regulations are enforced in a pragmatic and proportionate way until the improved deal is implemented.
The government is also committed to protecting the operation of the UK internal market and it is crucial for consumers that this commitment is upheld. Consumers should not face reduced choice between now and any SPS agreement due to the over-zealous enforcement of rules that all sides are committed to removing. Retailers and indeed consumers will be looking to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to robustly protect Northern Ireland’s position in the UK internal market.
NIRC also endorsed Lord Murphy’s call for the Duty Reimbursement Scheme to be revisited by the UK Government and the call for UK Ministers to make Windsor Framework related guidance accessible in a single ‘all-in-one service’.
Mr Johnston added:
It is essential that government becomes better at providing clear guidance in a more timely manner. Businesses cannot be expected to make changes to sophisticated, established supply chains with only days or a few weeks of notice.
ENDS
