New deal means no routine checks on goods between Britain and Northern Ireland in bid to break deadlock

JUST a fifth of goods flowing between Northern Ireland and the mainland will be subject to EU checks, ministers declared today.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris unveiled a new deal to try to get power-sharing in the province back up and running.

It was painstakingly negotiated with hardliners in the Democratic Unionist Party, who had walked away from the Stormont Assembly over a customs border in the Irish sea.

The plan will see the end of routine post-Brexit checks on 80 per cent of goods shipped from Great Britain to final destinations in Northern Ireland.

But checks will remain on goods destined for the European Union via the land border with the Republic of Ireland.

Unveiling the 60-page deal titled “Safeguarding The Union”, both the DUP and the UK Government claimed it would eradicate checks on goods flowing between Northern Ireland and the mainland.

They said there would be no checks on these goods apart from those conducted by the UK authorities as part of a “risk-based approach to tackle criminality, smuggling and disease risks”.

And the new deal commits to replacing the current so-called “green lane” process, which requires a certain percentage of goods to be checked as they arrive from Great Britain.

Instead the new “UK internal market system” that will govern the movement of goods that will remain within the United Kingdom and not enter the EU through Ireland.

It has been enough to convince the DUP to end its two-year boycott of the Northern Irish Assembly.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said today he is “absolutely convinced” the deal is the best one he could have secured.

He added: “I am satisfied that in terms of our core objectives we have delivered for the people of Northern Ireland. Is it perfect? No, it isn’t.

“Have we delivered everything we would have wanted at this stage? No, we haven’t.”

But he insisted the new agreement removed the so-called Irish Sea trading border.

He said: “We believe that where goods are moving within the United Kingdom and its internal market, there shouldn’t be checks, there shouldn’t be customs declarations, because that is what a border means.

“There should not be a border within the UK internal market. These proposals remove that border.

“There will no longer be checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, except where, as happens across the UK, there is smuggling or criminality.”

He also said now all goods manufactured in Northern Ireland will be available for sale in the rest of the UK.

And Sir Jeffrey praised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, saying he had “delivered where others haven’t”.

Under the proposals designed to break the political deadlock in Ulster, ministers say they will legislate this week to guarantee Northern Ireland’s “unfettered access” to UK market.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said restored powersharing in Northern Ireland offered the prospect of a “brighter future“.

Mr Sunak told the Commons: “After two years without an executive, there is now a prospect of powersharing back up and running, strengthening our Union, giving people the local, accountable government that they need, and offering a brighter future for Northern Ireland.”

The Stormont Assembly could sit again as soon as Saturday.