Labour’s Brexit plan won’t solve Northern Ireland dispute, says DUP

Keir Starmer’s planned veterinary deal with EU not ‘catch-all solution’, says Jeffrey Donaldson

Labour’s plan to strike a new agreement with the EU to ease food checks would not resolve the deadlock in Northern Ireland, the DUP’s leader has said.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his party would not end its refusal to renter power-sharing arrangements based on Sir Keir Starmer’s plan for a post-Brexit deal to remove some trade barriers.

Labour has called for a veterinary deal with Brussels to remove the need for extra sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on goods moving between the EU and the UK.

But Sir Jeffrey – whose party won’t return to Stormont until Rishi Sunak secures further concessions on the protocol – said an easing of SPS checks was not a “catch-all solution”.

“A UK-wide veterinary agreement would not address all of the problems created by the protocol,” he told The Telegraph. “It would certainly help with key elements of the protocol, but it’s not a catch-all solution – it’s dealing with one element of the protocol.

The DUP chief added: “It would have to be a much more comprehensive approach than just having a UK-wide veterinary agreement with the EU.”

The Centre for Brexit Policy has published a report, backed by Sir Jeffrey, suggesting the protocol is scrapped and replaced with an informal arrangement of “mutual enforcement” of standards on goods.

It would see UK exporters to the EU who break Brussels rules being punished by British courts, with no role for the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland. EU exporters to the UK would be policed by EU officials inside the bloc.

Mr Sunak stuck the Windsor Framework deal with the EU in March aimed at drawing a line under the protocol row. It contains a new mechanism – the so-called “Stormont brake” – that gives members of the Northern Ireland assembly the ability to flag concerns about new EU laws.

David Lammy says Labour Brexit policy ‘floor not a ceiling’ (PA Wire)

But Sir Jeffrey who has made clear the DUP will not return to Stormont until the Sunak government until the party gets further assurances around Northern Ireland’s place in the internal market.

The DUP leader said on Wednesday that he took the decision to withdraw the Stormont first minister 16 months ago “with great reluctance”.

He told MPs at Commons hearing that the Windsor Framework is due to come into force in October. Ahead of that, he said his party has put proposals to the government.

“We’ll see what the government responds with and then we can determine what we say publicly, obviously, the outcome of this process will become a matter of public record that has to do, but I want to ensure that we get the right outcome.”

Despite ruling out rejoining the single market or customs union, Labour’s foreign secretary David Lammy has hinted that the party’s policy could inch forward to forge closer ties with Brussels.

Mr Lammy told LBC that the idea of a veterinary deal to ease some food trade issues is a “floor not a ceiling” and said he wants “to hear what business has got to say over the coming months”.

Business leaders have warned of further pain ahead for Britain’s food retailers, with a costly new set of checks on EU imports kicking in from October – including a fee of up to £43 per consignment of food from the bloc.

The new charge – outlined in a consultation issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) – comes alongside separate fees for customs agents and SPS inspections.