Ulster Unionist Economy spokesperson, John Stewart MLA, has called on the Secretary of State to tell the Prime Minister to activate safeguard measures under Article 16 of the Protocol for a period of at least 12 months, to protect businesses and consumers in Northern Ireland.
Mr Stewart said:
“Talking to people across the groupage sector it is clear that the vast majority of GB shippers are not across the detail of the full implications of the Irish Sea border, the trusted trader scheme and Trader Support Service arrangements. As a result there are thousands of orders sitting in warehouses in Great Britain and factories that cannot be sent to their Northern Ireland customers due to a total lack of understanding of the system.
“This will impact on the Northern Ireland consignees’ customers and affect the business and private consumers of these products. Again we call on the UK Government to put a derogation in place for at least 12 months to give industry the chance to properly prepare for these changes.
“Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol states, ‘If the application of this Protocol leads to serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties that are liable to persist, or to diversion of trade, the Union or the United Kingdom may unilaterally take appropriate safeguard measures.’ The Government has the power to take action and it`s time that they did. The Secretary of State should tell the Prime Minister that he needs to act.”