The UK and EU have today (Monday, February 27) reached an agreement in principal on the new Windsor Framework, which is the conclusion of the discussions on the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“We have changed the original protocol and are today announcing the new Windsor Framework,” UK prime minister Rishi Sunak told press at a conference this afternoon.
The name of this new framework derives from the meeting point of the two parties’ final discussion: Windsor, England.
The framework has yet to be voted on by the UK parliament. This vote, Sunak said, will take place at the “appropriate time”, after all parties have considered it in detail. It will also be reviewed by relevant European parties before it becomes legally binding and is implemented.
A meeting of the EU-UK Joint Committee on the Withdrawal Agreement, co-chaired by Vice-President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, will also take place in the coming weeks, the commission has said.
The Windsor Framework
Today’s agreement, in Sunak’s words, is about “chartering a new way forward”.
“I believe we have found ways to end the uncertainties and the challenges for the people of Northern Ireland,” he said.
“We have taken three big steps forward.
“First, today’s agreement delivers a smooth flow of trade within the United Kingdom,” he added.
The agreement sets in stone a previously discussed ‘green lane’ and ‘red lane’ system, the first for goods destined for Northern Ireland and the latter being for goods at risk of moving onto the EU.
“In the green lane, burdens of custom bureaucracy will be scrapped,” Sunak said.
“It means food retailers, like supermarkets, restaurants, and wholesalers, will no longer need hundreds of certificates for every lorry.
“And, we will end the situation where food made to UK rules could not be sent to and sold in Northern Ireland. This means that if food is available on supermarket shelves in Great Britain, then it will be available on supermarket shelves in Northern Ireland.”
“This means we have removed any sense of a border in the Irish Sea,” he said.
The second big change is protecting Northern Ireland’s “place in the union”.
“We have amended the legal text of the protocol to ensure we can make critical VAT and excise changes for the whole of the UK,” he said.
This change will allow products like plants, seed potatoes and medicines to be available in Northern Ireland, if they are available in Great Britain.
The third development, according to Sunak, is “safeguarding sovereignty” for people in Northern Ireland.
He said that the “only EU law the applies in Northern Ireland under the framework is the minimum necessary to avoid a hard border with Ireland and allow Northern Ireland businesses to continue accessing the EU market”.
However, to address any worries that Northern Ireland may be affected by changes to EU goods laws, the Windsor Framework will introduce the ‘Stormont break’.
This would give Stormont assembly in Northern Ireland the power to pull an “emergency break” on any changes to EU rules that would have “significant and lasting affects” on everyday lives.
If this ‘break’ is pulled, the UK government will then have veto power.
“This new framework will allow us to begin a new chapter,” European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen said.
“It provides for long-lasting solutions that both of us are confident will work for all people and businesses in Northern Ireland,” she added.