Windsor Framework review must be honest assessment of problems – DUP

By Jonathan McCambridge, PA

An independent review of how the Windsor Framework is functioning must be an honest assessment rather than an exercise in “papering over” problems, DUP leader Gavin Robinson has said.

The Government announced this week that former Northern Ireland and Welsh secretary Paul Murphy will carry out the review of the operation of the UK and EU’s framework deal, following a vote by the Stormont Assembly to extend post-Brexit trading arrangements for the region for another four years.

Mr Murphy has said he has a “job of work” to do, adding his role is to listen to the concerns people have about the trading arrangements.

But Mr Robinson said there has to be more urgency in responding to the concerns of unionists.

The Stormont debate and vote in December were required under the democratic consent mechanism in the Windsor Framework and were designed to give local elected representatives a say on the trade rules that now operate in the region.

The framework, and its predecessor the NI Protocol, require checks and customs paperwork on goods moving from Great Britain into Northern Ireland.

Under the arrangements, which were designed to ensure no hardening of the Irish land border post-Brexit, Northern Ireland continues to follow many EU trade and customs rules.

This has proved highly controversial, with unionists arguing the system threatens Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom.

The Stormont vote on the parts of the framework which underpin the EU trade laws in force in Northern Ireland did not require cross-community support to pass.

However, the vote passing on only a straight majority obliged the UK Government to instigate the independent review being led by Lord Murphy.

He will provide a report in six months.

Mr Robinson said it is an opportunity to “focus on the damage being done to Northern Ireland”.

He added: “The recent Assembly vote was rigged and discarded the principle of cross-community consent that is essential to all political progress in Northern Ireland.

“We note this appointment and the review. It must be an honest assessment rather than an exercise of papering over or explaining the problems.

“The Government has been slow to appoint the Independent Monitoring Panel and enable Intertrade UK to get to work. There must be more urgency.

“The Windsor Framework and the last government’s Safeguarding the Union command paper did not secure all of our negotiating objectives, nor did these agreements remedy a number of the long-term problems born out of the NI Protocol.

“Building on progress secured to date, this party has a mandate to continue the fight to fully restore Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom.

“That includes removing the application of EU law in our country, which has created, and sustains, an internal Irish Sea border.

“There are weekly examples where costs are being driven up for manufacturers and additional paperwork is creating a chill factor for GB-based companies currently supplying the Northern Ireland market.”

The SDLP’s Stormont leader Matthew O’Toole said the review must be “fundamentally different to the clandestine bilateral Tory-DUP dialogue pursued by the previous government”.

He added: “We need to look at the huge range of opportunities from our unique position in relation to Europe.

“We will be telling Lord Murphy that the best way to build trust and confidence in the arrangements is to maximise the positive benefits, whether via selling the potential of dual market access, increasing our voice in the European Parliament or leveraging new investment via the European Investment Bank.

“We also need to see the review focus not just on the east-west movement of goods but on the huge range of disruptions to the all-island economy which are not covered by the protocol, including this week’s introduction of the Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme which could have serious implications for our tourism industry.”

Paul Murphy told the BBC Nolan Show that he hopes his recommendations will get cross-community support.

He said: “There wouldn’t be a review if there had been cross-community support in that (Stormont) vote, because there wasn’t it triggered the independent review.

“There is very much an acknowledgement that there is a job of work to be done.

“I am not here to persuade anybody about the merits or demerits of the Windsor Framework; my job is to listen to people and to see whether we can get a situation where there is support for it.”