US President-elect Donald Trump will not do a trade deal with the UK because Northern Ireland is a “back door” to the EU, MPs have been told.
During debate on TUV leader Jim Allister’s European Union (Withdrawal Arrangements) Bill, the MP for North Antrim warned that the Windsor Framework means the UK cannot offer “certainty” to the US of being a “safe and secure partner in a trade deal”.
The private member’s Bill would give ministers powers to block parts of the EU Withdrawal Agreement and Windsor Framework in UK law, in particular parts of the deal which apply EU customs rules on certain goods entering Northern Ireland, and which grant the Court of Justice of the EU jurisdiction over parts of the Withdrawal Agreement and framework.
It therefore is in the national interest, it’s in the Government’s interest, it’s in our trading interest, to fix this arrangement so that we can on the best possible terms pursue a trade deal with Americans who, at the end of the day, are our best friends in all of this
Jim Allister
But the Bill was talked out on Friday after almost five hours of debate and is unlikely to make further progress.
Mr Allister told MPs: “The other thing I’d say to the Government is this in their enthusiasm to maintain the unworkable status quo, they maybe should just reflect on the fact that there’s about to be a new president in the United States.
“And that new president of the United States has made it very, very plain that he’s in tariff mode, and if he carries through on his tariffs, then this Government in this United Kingdom will need a trade deal.
“And why would a president of the United States do a trade deal with the United Kingdom if that United Kingdom’s back door is open into the EU? And that is the consequence of this protocol.
“You do not have a secure international border in terms of trade. You have a border that is porous into the EU and if Mr Trump, by all reports, is pretty adverse to the EU, why would he ever do a deal with the United Kingdom with that back door open?
“I think it therefore is in the national interest, it’s in the Government’s interest, it’s in our trading interest, to fix this arrangement so that we can on the best possible terms pursue a trade deal with Americans who, at the end of the day, are our best friends in all of this.”
Later the TUV leader intervened on former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith to ask if he believed the current system with regard to Northern Ireland would disincentivise a US deal.
Sir Iain, who had been advocating a system of mutual enforcement in his contribution, said: “No government that I could ever join would ever have me, so on that basis, I will answer it from my own perspective.
“I do simply say it is made more difficult by the arrangement that somehow part of the United Kingdom now seems to be parked inside the EU, which makes it difficult for them to understand whether or not these would slip through, any goods, etc, into the EU.
“That will cause a problem. Whether it’s insurmountable is not mine to say, but I do say that these are unnecessary difficulties.”
MPs clashed over the language used about the constitutional position of Northern Ireland.
Labour MP Andrew Lewin questioned whether words like “colonisation” are part of “the message we want to send” to Brussels, after Mr Allister claimed Northern Ireland had become a “colony” of the EU.
Mr Allister said: “What is a colony? It is a territory governed by someone else’s laws from a foreign jurisdiction.
“When you’ve 300 areas of law, including customs, including the very definition of what is Northern Ireland’s territory in trading terms, which are governed by foreign EU laws, then you’ve created the situation where Northern Ireland in that context is a veritable colony.”
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement and Windsor Framework created “not a very enjoyable game of whack-a-mole” for Northern Ireland.
“An issue comes up about the VAT margin for second-hand car sales, we find a solution,” he said.
“Then another issue pops up, and another, and another: whack-a-mole. That’s the best strategic approach this Government and the previous government have for dealing with issues that are affecting us because of the decision taken back in 2019 (Brexit negotiations).”
Claire Hanna, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) later said: “Northern Ireland in general wants to move on.
“And I think people at home’s hearts are sinking at the prospect of going back in time like a demented moth towards the hard Brexit flame and reopening a time that was so destructive to our public services and to our economy.
“People who I represent don’t recognise the Mad Max scenario that the members continue to paint about a lack of availability of food and of products on our shelves – it’s not the reality that people are living in.”
Northern Ireland Office minister Fleur Anderson said the Government would “only support sustainable arrangements for Northern Ireland that work for business, protect the UK’s internal market, and uphold our international obligations”.
“The Windsor Framework does just that, and the Government is firmly committed to doing it just as stridently as we are committed to the UK internal market and to Northern Ireland flourishing within a strengthened union.”
She added: “No more magical thinking. No reopening of the wardrobe into a political Narnia of mythical solutions to the practical issues we must consider around trade. No more simplifications that work as soundbites but don’t stand up in reality.”
