Brexit & Beyond Newsletter

10 January 2022

Welcome to the 10 January 2022 Brexit & Beyond newsletter

UK Foreign Minister and newly appointed chief Brexit negotiator Liz Truss will meet her EU counterpart Maroš Šefčovič this week. She will also hold separate meetings with the DUP and Sinn Féin today. At the Assembly this week, junior Ministers from the Executive Office will give evidence on Brexit to the committee.

UK-EU negotiations recommence

UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss, who took over the Brexit portfolio at the end of last year, will hold her first face-to-face meeting with her EU counterpart Maroš Šefčovič at the 17th century country home, Chevening House. Truss met her Irish counterpart Foreign Minister Simon Coveney last Thursday.

Truss writes in the Telegraph that her “absolute priority is to deal with the issues in the Protocol that could threaten [the] hard-won gains” of the Good Friday Agreement. She said she will put forward “constructive proposals” to European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič and highlights problems areas such as parcels, pets, and access to kosher food for NI’s Jewish community. She says, “the EU has now recognised that there are problems which need to be resolved, but we will need to see greater movement.” The UK’s solution proposes that goods going to the EU should go through customs formalities and those staying in Northern Ireland should not. Truss says the UK wants a negotiated solution, but says they are willing to use Article 16.

Truss and Šefčovič held a first call on 21 December 2021. Truss published a statement afterwards, saying, “the UK position has not changed. We need goods to flow freely between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, end the role of the ECJ as the final arbiter of disputes between us, and resolve other issues.”

UK Foreign Minister Liz Truss | Source: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street

Views from NI Executive parties

Political parties in Northern Ireland have responded to the UK’s change of leadership on Brexit. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP gave an interview to BBC Good Morning Ulster today (8.07 am), where he said he is waiting to see whether Liz Truss’ words are translated into action, and then he will decide his party’s course of action. Donaldson says he wants the negotiations to succeed. He is set to meet Truss today and says he will make clear that “a definitive timeline for an outcome of the current negotiations must be set”.

Following Lord Frost’s resignation as Brexit Minister, Sinn Féin junior Minister Declan Kearney said the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee should urgently convene and encouraged Truss to “follow a very different path” to that of Lord Frost. The party will meet separately with Liz Truss today.

UUP leader Doug Beattie MLA welcomed Truss’ comments in the Telegraph, saying they outline a way forward in dealing with trade issues with the EU. He said they should form the basis of talks this week, adding, “Common sense is needed to de-escalate this issue.”

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP said, “Frost’s resignation is an opportunity to reset the approach to the dialogue with the European Commission, to refresh the relationship with the EU and to return to the solutions that are presented to these challenges in the Good Friday Agreement.”

Alliance Party Deputy Leader, Stephen Farry MP said, “hopefully we see a less confrontational and more realistic approach around the Protocol. We should build on momentum from the breakthrough on medicines and find pragmatic solutions to the other challenges.”

Other news

• The BBC has published a letter from the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Edwin Poots, which states that he intends to bring the issue of the implementation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland to the Executive by the end of January. His department is primarily responsible for implementing the checks under the Protocol, but this matter can also be viewed as a cross-cutting issue, which must be approved by the Executive.
• Former Brexit Minister Lord Frost has given an interview to the Mail on Sunday where he outlines some of the reasons for his resignation.
• Jill Rutter of the UK in a Changing Europe think tank writes that it is not clear that the new set-up for UK-EU relations from the Foreign Office have been adequately thought through. She notes the amount of time Lord Frost spent in Northern Ireland, including giving evidence to the Assembly, and says that Truss and her deputy Chris Heaton-Harris will have to build up relationships with the devolved governments. Lord Frost had been due to give evidence to the Committee for the Executive Office this month.
• In December, the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee published the Government’s response to its report on moving animals across borders.  The UK Government says that the UK meets all the animal health requirements for becoming a ‘Part 1 listed’ third country and “will continue to press the EU Commission” to secure this status. The Committee’s report highlights this issue in relation to pet travel from GB to NI and Europe.
• On 31 December, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson released a statement pledging “to build on Brexit achievements in 2022”. Boris Johnson has said the Government will go “further and faster” to maximise the opportunities of Brexit, referring to the review of retained EU law and work in Whitehall to create “a better regulatory framework”, and recommendations from the Taskforce for Regulatory Reform, Innovation and Growth (TIGRR).
• Changes to customs controls and SPS requirements on EU-GB imports were introduced on 1 January 2022. The UK Government’s Border Operating Model has the details; it is extending temporarily the previous arrangements for goods moving from the island of Ireland to GB.
• On 5 January 2022, the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement was debated in the House of Commons. The UK Government’s impact assessment of the FTA estimates an increase in GVA in NI of £21 million, with the caveat that subnational impacts are subject to a high degree of uncertainty.
• On 1 January 2022, France took over the presidency of the EU Council (which is rotated among EU member states every six months). In its presidency programme, France states it “will ensure that the unity of the Member States is preserved and that the United Kingdom respects its commitments, in particular on the Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement on Ireland and Northern Ireland.”
• In December, the UK and EU reached an agreement on fishing catch limits for 2022. On 6 January 2022, Minister of State Victoria Prentis made a statement on the UK’s fisheries negotiations.
• On 21 December 2021, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Partnership Council agreed a second decision on the extension of the interim period arrangements for UK processing of EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) data.

This Week at the Assembly

• Wednesday 12 January, 2pm - Committee for The Executive Office - UK Exit from EU - Oral Briefing from junior Ministers
• Thursday 13 January, 12.35pm - Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs - EU Exit legislation