The UK government has announced that it will remove the clauses in the internal market bill that threatened to violate the Irish protocol in the withdrawal agreement from 2019.

This is following discussions between cabinet office minister Michael Gove MP and EU commissioner Maroš Šefcovic in Brussels on Tuesday and will take effect whether or not a wider EU-UK deal is agreed that would avoid tariffs and quotas.

This agreement means that Northern Ireland (NI) would remain aligned to EU standards and accept checks and controls on goods entering NI from Britain, so that EU border controls don’t have to be implemented at the land border on the island of Ireland.

The UK internal markets bill had threatened to ignore some of the requirements in this agreement.

As well as violation of an international agreement, it had soured relations in the wider negotiation between the EU and UK on a wider agreement to replace UK participation in the single market and customs union.

The EU and UK have also agreed that they can provide support for agriculture and fisheries outside the constraints of state aid rules.

What this means

Basically, this means that cross-border trade on the island of Ireland can continue uninterrupted after 1 January as originally envisaged in the protocol attached to the withdrawal agreement.

Meeting of the Joint EU-UK committee for implementation of the protocol that is part of the UK withdrawal agreement on leaving the EU.

The UK internal market bill had threatened to overrule this and if this had happened, it would have put a huge question mark over the island of Ireland being able to operate as a single market with milk, cattle, pigs and lambs trading freely and uninterrupted cross-border as they do at present.

Problems that remain

On this issue, problems remain for meat factories in Northern Ireland that source cattle or beef carcases in Britain and supermarkets that are supplied from distribution centres in Britain.

These will require customs declarations and veterinary health certificates for goods of animal origin.

For a supermarket importing anything with a meat or dairy content, this will involve multiple certificates at a cost that is likely to make the import of many products uneconomic.

It will also be the case for factories importing an estimated £250m (€275m) of beef in Britain for processing.

This is the consequence of Britain no longer being part of the single market and customs union and NI being treated as part of the single market that will also enforce EU customs requirements on any goods transiting through NI from Britain to the EU.

Comment

This announcement effectively restores the position with administration of EU controls at NI ports as it was understood prior to the publication of the UK internal market bill in September.

By removing the controversial clauses, the UK has made clear the withdrawal agreement will be enforced as the EU intended.

It may improve the negotiating mood in the wider EU-UK trade negotiation and if a deal was reached, it would remove the tariffs element from the customs control process.

What cannot be avoided at this stage is the administrative red tape that is now inevitable in trade between EU member states and Britain.