The supply of over 50% of veterinary medicines to Northern Ireland is at risk of being discontinued after 2025 despite the reforms to the Northern Ireland protocol, a UK parliament committee has warned the government in a new report published on Tuesday (25 July).
Industry representatives told the cross-party House of Lords Northern Ireland Protocol subcommittee, which does not have a government majority, that the medicines would stop being supplied unless the EU and UK reach a permanent solution for when the grace period for customs checks on veterinary medicines ends in December 2025.
This, they said, was posing a risk both to animal and human health, and to agri-food supply chains.
The committee, which took evidence from businesses, trade bodies, and political leaders, concluded that while the Windsor Framework marks an improvement on the original Northern Ireland protocol, outstanding concerns remained, highlighted by businesses and retailers.
These include the movement of livestock from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and back, and concerns that Northern Ireland businesses may be placed at a competitive disadvantage with Great Britain-based retailers in their own market.
“There is an underlying fear that Northern Ireland will find itself in a “no-man’s land” between Great Britain and the EU (including Ireland), placing the competitiveness of Northern Ireland firms and their complex supply chains in jeopardy,” the committee added.
Agreed in February by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after a two year dispute over the implementation of the protocol, the Windsor Framework states that goods travelling from Britain to the island of Ireland will not face customs checks if they are staying in Northern Ireland and would go through a ‘green lane’.
Scrapping customs checks on goods staying within the UK was one of London’s main demands, although the details on how businesses would be qualified as ‘trusted traders’ remain to be seen.
Meanwhile, products which are going to be moved across the border into the Republic of Ireland, meaning the EU’s single market, would be subject to a ‘red lane’ and customs checks.
The Framework has been passed into law but does not have the support of Northern Ireland’s unionist politicians, who want the Protocol to be scrapped.
“The benefits to business include easier movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland through the green lane,” said Lord Michael Jay, a former diplomat who chairs the committee.
“For some businesses, however, processes will be more burdensome under the Windsor Framework than under the Protocol as it operates now. And where there is uncertainty, the red lane, with its more complex procedures, may have to be used,” he added.
The committee also reported that many of the Framework’s provisions, particularly on medicines and agri-food products, are legally confusing and require more clarity from the UK government and European Commission.
“Businesses need clarity. The government and the European Union both need urgently to explain what the Windsor Framework means in practice for businesses,” said Lord Jay.
A government spokesman said in response to the report that “the Windsor Framework is the best deal for Northern Ireland – restoring the smooth flow of goods with Great Britain and protecting its place in the Union”.
“It cuts paperwork and checks compared to the old Protocol, lifts the bans on products like seed potatoes and provides a durable, sustainable basis for the future,” he added.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
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