Government dismisses UUP claim Sir Chris Bryant is 'naive' to say Northern Ireland has the 'best of both worlds'
The government has dismissed a suggestion the new Northern Ireland Secretary’s position on the province having the “best of both worlds” under the Windsor Framework is naive.
Sir Chris Bryant made the claim in his first interview after being appointed by Prime Minister Andy Burnham to replace Hilary Benn at the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).
UUP MLA Steve Aiken said ongoing issues with the arrangements arise weekly at the Stormont committee set up to discuss them, and said the new NIO chief should no longer be “naive” enough to suggest that Northern Ireland benefits from the arrangements in the way he described.
In response, the NIO has reiterated its commitment to the UK-EU trade deal, which has placed a physical and regulatory border down the Irish Sea.
A spokesperson said: “The Government is committed to protecting the UK internal market and the Windsor Framework, and our practical approach to the EU continues to help smooth the flow of trade and ensure that NI is one of the fastest growing regions of the UK.
“Dual market access to the UK and EU markets is critical to Northern Ireland’s excellent manufacturing sector, which continues to perform strongly despite global challenges for the sector”.
Last week, Sir Chris told the BBC: “You've got the best of both worlds being in the single market and in the United Kingdom. We need to exploit all these economic opportunities. Let's lift our eyes to much bigger horizons about economic prosperity”.
Steve Aiken sits on the Stormont committee which scrutinises the laws being passed down from Brussels – and last week raised a number of issues which have arisen since the Assembly went into recess.
Last week he said that a tax on parcels, which he had branded the “Alliance Tax”, will not be applied here, but said officials are less certain about the impact of a forthcoming ‘administration charge’.
However, he warned NI will be “lucky to escape the fallout” of an EU spat with the USA over the Digital Markets Act – with the Trump administration “threatening massive counter tariffs” if the EU fines Google.