‘Initial problems’ in the north during the first day of new trade rules

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The first controls have been carried out on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain after the end of the Brexit transition period.

There were few signs of a disruption at the border as the cargo crossed the Irish Sea on a quiet banking holiday after the new arrangements came in at 11pm on New Year’s Eve.

But, according to Logistics UK, about half of the trucks that entered Belfast on the first ferry of the day from Britain on Friday were called in for inspection as part of the new Brexit rules, with one truck stopped in port for at minus three hours. “Teething problems” arose.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that leaving the single market and customs union meant that the UK “regained control of our money, our laws and our waters.”

Lower trade volumes on the New Year’s Day bank holiday meant there was little disruption from the additional bureaucracy now applied to UK exports to the EU.

The Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover told the PA news agency that services were running smoothly.

Eurotunnel rejected four truckers, but all as a result of not presenting coronavirus test certificates, rather than breaching new customs regulations.

Calais also reported calm, but the region’s customs director, Jean Marc Thillier, warned that the arrangements would face a “litmus test” when traffic flows pick up after the holiday weekend.

Johnson, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said that the “great new deal” with the EU secured on Christmas Eve honors the “most basic promises” of the 2016 referendum and means that the UK has “regained control of our money, our laws and our waters ”.

The EU had provided the UK with a “safe European home” during the 1970s, but now the country has “changed in unrecognizable ways” with global prospects, he said.

In a sign that the UK will break the EU rules it inherited, Johnson said: “We need the Brexit opportunity to push those sectors where we excel, do things differently and do them better.”

The first truck, driven by Slavi Ivanov Shumeykov, embarks on Le Shuttle in the Eurotunnel in Folkestone, Kent, after the UK leaves the single market and the customs union. Photo: Gareth Fuller / PA

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said the change in trade agreements with the UK will inevitably cause disruption.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “We will now see € 80 billion worth of trade across the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland interrupted by many more checks and declarations, red tape and paperwork, and costs and delays. . “

Ferry operator Stena Line said six cargo loads destined for Ireland were rejected at Holyhead due to incorrect paperwork.

Seamus Leheny, policy manager at Logistics UK, told the BBC Radio 4 Prime Minister that there had been a new inspection regime to get used to for early arrivals in Belfast on Friday afternoon.

He said: “There were only 15 trucks on that particular ship. However, six of the trucks were selected for inspection at the border checkpoint in the port of Belfast.

“I know that at least one of those trucks is still stopped three hours later, so we are already seeing some consequences of this.

“Inevitably, there will be initial problems because with a system as new and complex as this, there will be problems in the first days.”

The trucks arrive at the Port of Dover. Photo: Gareth Fuller / PA

Former British Minister David Jones, vice chair of the Brexiteer Tories European Research Group (ERG), said that “a border in the Irish Sea was something we neither expected nor approved of.”

He told the BBC that while it “represents a barrier”, the UK government “has done a lot to mitigate the problem, but I think it will be some time before the new agreements are put in place.”

The Northern Ireland Protocol means that the North remains in the EU’s single market for goods and will apply EU customs rules in its ports, even though the region remains part of the UK customs territory.

The protocol will also make Northern Ireland follow certain EU rules on state aid and VAT.

In other developments:

– Nicola Sturgeon said the EU should be ready to welcome an independent Scotland back to the bloc. The Prime Minister said: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on. “

– French President Emmanuel Macron used his New Years message to say that while the UK remains a “friend and ally”, Brexit was born out of a European malaise and “many lies and false promises”.

Under the new agreements, freedom of movement rights end for UK citizens and although they can still travel for work or pleasure, there are different rules.

Passports must be valid for more than six months, visas or permits may be required for extended stays while pets need a health certificate.

The automatic right to live and work in the EU will also cease, and students from Great Britain will no longer participate in the Erasmus student exchange program.



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