The row between Britain and the EU over Northern Ireland has jeopardised plans to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year by planting English oaks in the province.
For months, the famous Northern Ireland Protocol has been a sticking point in negotiations between London, Brussels and Brussels. It keeps the Republic’s border open, but it requires British goods to be checked.
However, under EU plant rules, which Northern Ireland continues to follow, British species like honeysuckle or oak are not allowed.
Lord Frost (pictured), who met Maros Selefovic, Vice-President of European Commission on Friday, threatened to suspend the protocol and trigger Article 16 if no agreement is reached
The red tape means people in Northern Ireland cannot plant such trees from the mainland as part of the nationwide Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.
Writing in today’s Mail on Sunday, below, Brexit Minister Lord Frost cites the ban as one of the reasons why the EU should end the stalemate over the protocol.
Maros Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission, met Lord Frost on Friday. He threatened to stop the protocol and trigger Article 16 if no agreement is reached.
The red tape means people in Northern Ireland cannot plant such trees from the mainland as part of the nationwide Queen’s Green Canopy initiative
Referring to the ‘intensive and sometimes dramatic argument with the EU’ over the protocol, Lord Frost called for ‘more ambition and more urgency’, adding: ‘The protocol itself says it should “impact as little as possible on the everyday life of communities in both Ireland and Northern Ireland”. It is not doing so.
‘The core of the problem is that all kinds of goods are not getting to Northern Ireland in the way that they do to the rest of our country, or face extra costs and delays if they do. That’s not fair on consumers in Northern Ireland.’
Lord Frost added: ‘As we approach Christmas, we’ve seen a stream of stories about products being banned and services being withdrawn because of the protocol.
The row between Britain and the EU over Northern Ireland has jeopardised plans to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year by planting English oaks in the province
‘Marks & Spencer has had to withdraw its entire Christmas product ‘Click and collect’ service from Northern Ireland because of uncertainties in delivery timetables.’
After their meeting in Brussels, Mr Sefcovic said he had ‘reiterated the need to shift into a result-orientated mode and to deliver on the issues raised by Northern Irish stakeholders’.
He added ‘It is essential that the recent change in tone now leads to joint tangible solutions in the framework of the protocol.’
In an effort to make a deal before Christmas, the men will be meeting again in London.
LORD FROST
Mail on Sunday readers may be asking why the EU is again in an intense and often dramatic dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
We are again being threatened over our treatment of a part of our country.
This is a strange thing to happen when the issues were so recent.
Pictured: Lord Frost, Brexit minister, says that protocol issues are unfair on Northern Ireland consumers.
The answer is that, as Maros Sefcovic, my EU opposite number, acknowledged in a speech on Friday, there are a series of ‘unintended consequences’ from the application of the protocol.
At the start of the year, EU officials denied there were any problems. They now admit that there are problems and they need to be fixed.
But so far their solutions don’t deal with the problems. To sustain peace and secure the Belfast, or Good Friday, Agreement, we need to be more ambitious and urgent.
The protocol itself says it should ‘impact as little as possible on the everyday life of communities in both Ireland and Northern Ireland’. It is not doing so.
All kinds of goods don’t get to Northern Ireland as quickly or at the same time, which is the core problem.
As fears mount that the UK government will invoke Article 16 and reopen a so-called hard border, protestors demonstrate
That’s not fair on consumers in Northern Ireland.
As we approach Christmas, we’ve seen a stream of stories about products being banned and services being withdrawn because of the protocol.
Marks & Spencer has had to withdraw its entire Christmas product ‘Click and collect’ service from Northern Ireland because of uncertainties in delivery timetables. These stories aren’t new – they’ve been happening all year.
According to our sources, at least 200 Northern Irish retailers have stopped shipping to Northern Ireland.
Many medicines and other drugs are being withheld, as we know. The Jewish community of Northern Ireland has expressed concern at the difficulty in importing kosher products from the UK.
Garden centres can’t get many kinds of plants and seeds from the rest of the UK because their import to Northern Ireland is banned.
We are even in a position where plans to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next year by planting trees cannot be properly implemented in Northern Ireland because English oaks, and many other trees, can’t be moved there – even though plenty were moved until the end of last year, and as far as I am aware have not all been cut down since.
Maros Sefcovic, pictured, acknowledged in a speech on Friday that there are a series of ‘unintended consequences’ from the application of the protocol
Because the Protocol is too complex to implement, other services may be able to help.
EU tried to bring us before their Court of Justice. Without this flexibility, all parcels sent by Amazon to Northern Ireland would need a complete customs declaration.
Even so it’s easy to find online examples of it being actually more expensive to send a parcel to Belfast than to Dublin.
Families who travel to Northern Ireland during Christmas are allowed to take their pets dogs, provided that the rules regarding pet passports have not been enforced.
This has caused Northern Ireland’s businesses to abandon British suppliers and start buying directly from Ireland.
Since the beginning of 2018, trade between Northern Ireland and Ireland has increased by 40% to 50%.