‘Ambitious’ UK-EU agri-food deal will help resolve Northern Ireland trade problems, minister says

Striking an “ambitious” farming and food deal with the EU will ensure freer flow of goods from Britain to Northern Ireland, a government minister has insisted.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, Cabinet Office Minister for EU Relations, said a negotiated sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement between the UK and the EU would be mutually beneficial.

The minister, who will lead the UK’s talks on new ties with the EU, was in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to hear from stakeholders about post-Brexit trade barriers, which have led to the need to introduce checks on goods entering the region via the Irish Sea.

Labour has pledged to ‘reset’ relations with Brussels, with securing a deal on food safety and animal and plant health among the new government’s priorities.

The Cabinet Office minister said Northern Ireland would be at the forefront of his thoughts when it came to talks with Brussels.

“I don’t expect formal high-level negotiations to start before early next year, but I certainly hope that an SPS agreement, an ambitious SPS agreement, will ease the situation on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” he said.

The devolved institutions at Stormont were revived earlier this year after being shelved for two years as the DUP vetoed the collapse of the governing structures in protest at the economic and legal barriers created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK as a result of Brexit.

The Northern Ireland Protocol, negotiated by Boris Johnson with the EU, and its successor, the Windsor Framework, negotiated by Rishi Sunak with Brussels, both require checks and introduce additional bureaucracy into the movement of goods from Britain to the region.

With these agreements, Northern Ireland effectively complies with many EU rules and regulations to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland.

Any agreement to ease agricultural trade between the UK and the EU would reduce the need for such internal barriers and checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Mr Thomas-Symonds, who met Stormont Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir at Belfast Port on Tuesday, said Labour intended to use the Windsor Framework in good faith before any new SPS deal emerged.

“It is really important that we act in good faith in implementing the Windsor Framework. We voted for the Windsor Framework as the opposition party,” he said.

“And I know it is very important that we as the European Union are in good faith in implementing the Windsor Framework going forward.”

He added: “It is of mutual benefit what we want to do – it is in the national interest of the UK, in the security of the UK, the safety of the UK and the prosperity of the UK to have a closer relationship. It is also in the interest of the EU.

“But I also think it is important for the EU to do business with a partner who is in good faith and who respects the rule of law and international law, and who also respects and will continue to be a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. I think that is a framework for cooperation that is in the mutual interest of both parties.”

Good to be back in Belfast.

I am determined to do everything I can in my role to see Northern Ireland prosper. I am delighted to be here @QUBelfast to meet so many companies and community groups working hard to do the same. photo.twitter.com/B0f0jhqNCK

— Nick Thomas-Symonds (@NickTorfaen) July 30, 2024

During his visit to Belfast, the Minister also met with business and community organisations at Queen’s University.

He then met at Stormont with the Speaker of the Assembly, Edwin Poots, as well as the Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee set up to investigate the operation of the Windsor Framework – Sinn Fein MLA Philip McGuigan and DUP MLA David Brooks.

On the possible shape of an agri-food deal, Mr Thomas-Symonds added: “We are very ambitious about the agreement.

“I mean, as you can imagine, it’s always subject to negotiations, there are two sides to these negotiations. But we are certainly very ambitious in terms of the scope of it going forward.”

The minister said he wanted a deal that would “contribute to the free flow of trade across the Irish Sea”.

According to Mr Thomas-Symonds, the UK’s approach to negotiations will depend on a commitment to high legal and regulatory standards.

“We believe in high standards in terms of labor law, but we also believe in high standards in agriculture, in terms of environmental standards,” he said.

“We are not a government engaged in a race to the bottom, in fact, we are engaging in a race to the top in terms of standards.

“So we think it is in the interest of both parties to strive for such high standards as a country and to conclude an ambitious agreement.

“And of course we believe it will create a situation where trade across the Irish Sea can flow more freely.”