A specialist in the supply chain and logistics area has expressed concern about a lack of clarity surrounding post-Brexit trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
On the day that UK voters head to the polling booths for the General Election, John Perry, managing director of leading supply chain and logistics consultancy Scala, said questions remain about how trade, including the transport of food products, will be carried out between the UK mainland and Northern Ireland once the country leaves the European Union, now scheduled to happen at the end of January.
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“Despite the fact we are now nine months past the original Brexit deadline, UK businesses are still facing a huge amount of uncertainty,” he said.
“While we do know that a clear Conservative victory on Friday will set the wheels of [pre-election Prime Minister] Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement in motion, many of the details still remain undecided.
“Of particular concern are the potential implications of Johnson’s Northern Ireland protocol.
“Border controls and customs processes for goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are yet to be defined, and there are worries that the proposed arrangements as currently constructed will cause considerable friction.
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By GlobalData“As a result, doubts have also been raised over the feasibility of implementing the protocol Johnson’s self-imposed December 2020 deadline.”
Speaking on Sky TV last weekend, Conservative Party leader Johnson, who has previously said there would be frictionless trade within the UK, admitted there will be some customs checks after Brexit on items from Great Britain to Northern Ireland which are destined for the Irish Republic.
This followed warnings about checks in leaked Treasury documents highlighted by the Labour Party.
Johnson told the broadcaster: “So the issue is how to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland and we can do that by making sure that there are – by having some checks on goods that might be proceeding into the Republic.”
Speaking on Monday in Brussels, Irish Tanaiste [deputy leader] Simon Coveney said it was clear there would be checks on the Irish border.
“The EU has made it clear they want to minimise the impact on goods coming from GB into Northern Ireland but at the same time goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland will need to have some checks to ensure that the EU knows what is potentially coming into their market through Northern Ireland,” he told Irish broadcaster RTE.
