Northern Ireland faces ‘potent threat’ from Brexit and Covid-19

Northern Ireland faces a “potent threat” to its prosperity and stability if reduced business confidence due to uncertainty over post-Brexit trading rules compounds the economic damage from coronavirus, a Lords committee has warned. A fourth round of talks between the UK and EU over a permanent deal begins this week, with little apparent progress made, and the looming deadline of 1 July for the UK to seek an extension to the transition period beyond this year. Boris Johnson has repeatedly ruled this out, while the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has urged the UK to stick to its commitments, saying Brussels will not be pushed into “agreement at any cost”. If no agreement can be reached, the greatest impact could be felt in Northern Ireland, which will follow EU rules on agriculture and manufactured goods, and where there will be some checks on shipments from England, Wales and Scotland.

In a report the House of Lords European Union committee said the continued uncertainty could prompt businesses in the rest of the UK to think again about investing in Northern Ireland. Northern Irish businesses have also been hampered in their preparations for the new potential trading regime by the impact of coronavirus, the report said. It concluded: “The combination of uncertainty, lack of momentum and lack of time, compounded by the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, is a potent threat to economic prosperity and political stability in Northern Ireland.”

The last round of talks saw seemingly minimal progress, with Barnier and his UK counterpart, David Frost, exchanging bad-tempered letters. Frost’s letter in particular raised hackles in Brussels by accusing the EU side of treating the UK as an “unworthy” partner in offering a trade agreement that would force the country to “bend to EU norms”. Speaking to the Sunday Times ahead of the next round, Barnier appeared similarly pugnacious, saying failing to reach a deal would bring “even more consequences” than before given the coronavirus pandemic. “So, I think we have a joint responsibility in this very serious crisis, which affects so many families, with so many deaths, so many sick people, so many people unemployed, to do everything we can to reach an agreement and I very much hope that we will do so,” he said. Barnier said Britain had been “taking a step back – two steps back, three steps back” from the commitments made in the departure deal signed by Boris Johnson. “The UK negotiators need to be fully in line with what the prime minister signed up to with us,” he said. “Because 27 heads of state and government and the European parliament do not have a short memory.”

Source: The Guardian