• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Yorkshire Bylines
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
    RAF Linton

    Is the Home Office planning more law breaking at Linton camp?

    Eton College

    The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status

    Johnson and Macron

    Mais oui, mon ami: Johnson and Macron display ‘le bromance’ and discuss a European Political Community

    Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill, right, and Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald at the RDS in Dublin

    Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: a hopeless case and a dangerous one?

    SAY NO TO PUTIN

    War and no peace: Putin’s war with Ukraine threatens us all

    Prime minister PMQ prep

    Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

    The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

    Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

    schools bill

    Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

    Emmanuel Macron

    French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

    Trending Tags

    • Johnson
    • Coronavirus
    • Labour
    • Starmer
    • Northern Ireland protocol
    • Brexit
    • Culture
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Culture
    • Dance
    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Recipes
    • Sport
    Nostell Priory, Wakefield

    Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

    Headingley Cricket Stadium

    A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

    Bettys' Fat Rascals

    Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

    'Woke' beliefs

    Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

    Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

    What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

    Red Ladder

    Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

    Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

    Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

    Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

    Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

    Queen cakes fit for a Queen

    Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Sport
  • Business
    • All
    • Economy
    • Technology
    • Trade
    Eton College

    The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status

    Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

    International Women in Engineering Day 2022

    Rail strikes

    Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

    conservative party

    The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

    Yorkshire cows

    British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

    cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

    Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

    Money on the floor - £20 notes

    The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

    Financial problems

    Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

    An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

    Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

    Trending Tags

      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
    • Region
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • News
      • All
      • Brexit
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Health
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
      RAF Linton

      Is the Home Office planning more law breaking at Linton camp?

      Eton College

      The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status

      Johnson and Macron

      Mais oui, mon ami: Johnson and Macron display ‘le bromance’ and discuss a European Political Community

      Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill, right, and Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald at the RDS in Dublin

      Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: a hopeless case and a dangerous one?

      SAY NO TO PUTIN

      War and no peace: Putin’s war with Ukraine threatens us all

      Prime minister PMQ prep

      Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

      The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

      Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

      schools bill

      Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

      Emmanuel Macron

      French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

      Trending Tags

      • Johnson
      • Coronavirus
      • Labour
      • Starmer
      • Northern Ireland protocol
      • Brexit
      • Culture
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Lifestyle
      • All
      • Culture
      • Dance
      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Recipes
      • Sport
      Nostell Priory, Wakefield

      Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

      Headingley Cricket Stadium

      A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

      Bettys' Fat Rascals

      Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

      'Woke' beliefs

      Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

      Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

      What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

      Red Ladder

      Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

      Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

      Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

      Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

      Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

      Queen cakes fit for a Queen

      Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Sport
    • Business
      • All
      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
      Eton College

      The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status

      Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

      International Women in Engineering Day 2022

      Rail strikes

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      conservative party

      The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

      Yorkshire cows

      British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

      cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

      Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

      Money on the floor - £20 notes

      The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

      Financial problems

      Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

      An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

      Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

      Trending Tags

        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Region
      No Result
      View All Result
      Yorkshire Bylines
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home News Brexit

      Brexit: the view from Northern Ireland

      Northern Ireland is directly impacted by Brexit and poor UK-EU relations, be it with trade, borders, or 'taking back control'.

      Professor Katy HaywardbyProfessor Katy Hayward
      07-04-2021 06:28
      in Brexit
      Brexit Northern Ireland

      "Stormont" by D-Stanley is licensed under CC BY 2.0

      1.1k
      VIEWS
      Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Northern Ireland is on the periphery of both the EU and the UK, and this is why it is right at the nexus of the new UK-EU relationship. It is why the withdrawal negotiations ended up concentrating so intensely on ‘the Irish question’. And it’s why Brexit-related stories continue so often to be centred on this small place, with accompanying tales of UK-EU tensions.

      Working out the terms of the new UK-EU relationship had to accommodate the very particular position of Northern Ireland. It is economically, politically and culturally both British and Irish. This is reflected in its trade as much as in its traditions. And so a compromise arrangement was necessary.

      Ireland / Northern Ireland protocol

      The compromise the UK and EU came to was the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. It was wrapped up as an essential part of the withdrawal agreement and thus it came into effect officially on 1 February 2020. However, it wasn’t until the transition period was over that the full implications of the protocol became clear.

      “THE LEFT & THE EU POSTER [IN OR OUT DEBATE IN BELFAST]-117927” by infomatique is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

      During the transition period, businesses in Northern Ireland had been calling for clarity and information from the UK and EU about the protocol. According to the terms of this agreement, Northern Ireland would be de facto in the EU’s single market for goods and the Union Customs Code would apply on goods entering it from non-EU countries, including Great Britain.

      In some ways, therefore, what the UK-EU future deal looked like would have a direct impact on what would be required when moving goods between Britain and Northern Ireland. In this way, 1 January 2021 would mean changes for trade within the UK as well as with the EU.

      Huge changes for Northern Ireland, post-Brexit

      It is unsurprising that this has been a hugely significant change for Northern Ireland. Coming on top of deep political divisions in the region about both Brexit and borders, the impact of the past 100 days can be characterised as one of growing ‘unease’.

      On 1 January, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland tweeted, “There is no ‘Irish Sea Border’”. This exemplified the UK government’s attempt to downplay the significance of the protocol for intra-UK trade. However, the end of the transition period meant that such rhetoric and reassurances were now having to stand the test of reality.

      And the reality was – as many replies to Brandon Lewis’ tweet indicated – one of quite evident change. There were empty shelves on supermarkets. There were “we do not deliver to Northern Ireland” messages on UK websites. There were inspections of British goods on British lorries in Larne harbour.

      Border troubles on the island of Ireland

      Some of the worst disruption was a knock-on consequence of the pre-Christmas closing of the UK-France border due to Covid-19 concerns. Other aspects of it were due to caution on the part of British suppliers and, in some cases, a lack of preparation.

      In the effort to prepare British companies for the end of the transition period, the UK government did little to draw attention to the fact that new rules would apply on goods moving into Northern Ireland. Customs declarations, certifications, pre-notifications, details on how each consignment was being transported across the Irish Sea … All this required awareness of the rules and an ability to comply.

      In some cases, British companies decided it was not worth it.

      Lack of time to prepare for Brexit

      And there were other aspects of disruption too. Particularly coming in the middle of a global pandemic, the lack of time to adjust and prepare for the new regime was all too apparent.

      Everything was coming too late. Information on new schemes to give financial support for facilitating movement of goods was issued mid-December. News of ‘grace periods’ to allow adaptation to the new rules was confirmed mid-December. Trials of some the new IT systems on which all these new processes depended were still occurring in mid-December.

      All a matter of days before the new rules came into effect.

      EU have to oversee new rules

      The UK authorities may be charged with implementing these rules, but the EU is overseeing the degree to which they are practiced, because it is the integrity of the EU’s single market that’s at stake if things go wrong.

      There’s a need for adjustment and flexibility on the part of both, but all that depends on the degree to which they can work with each other on a basis of trust.

      Control of British borders will not be taken back

      And this is where we come to the tensions of the situation. For all its promises to ‘take back control of our borders’, the UK government has decided to do this as slowly and ‘lightly’ as possible when it comes to British borders. This has helped minimise disruption for the flow of goods into Britain.

      It has little such discretion in Northern Ireland. What happens here has to be agreed with the EU. This is why, just eight weeks in, the unilateral decision of the UK government to extend the grace periods resulted in the EU instigating legal proceedings against it.

      UK-EU tensions directly affect Northern Ireland

      Tensions in the UK-EU relationship have a peculiarly direct impact ‘on the ground’ in Northern Ireland. This reflects the fact that the region is poised in careful balance on the edge of both.

      Although the detail of the protocol is primarily about trade technicalities, it is inevitable that adjustment in the UK-EU, the British-Irish, and the intra-UK relationships will raise political anxieties too. This is reflected in the steady growth of demands from all unionist parties in Northern Ireland to ‘scrap the protocol’ – even as nationalists call for its proper implementation.

      Northern Ireland is like a microcosm of the economic and political challenges wrought by Brexit for Britain’s relationships with its neighbours. What the past 100 days have demonstrated is that adjustment to these new relationships will take time, and needs to be handled with care.


      Katy Hayward is senior fellow UK in a Changing Europe and professor of political sociology at Queen’s University Belfast

      Tags: Northern Ireland protocol
      ADVERTISEMENT
      Previous Post

      Preserving my right to free movement

      Next Post

      We need a new narrative about what being British really means

      Professor Katy Hayward

      Professor Katy Hayward

      Katy is senior fellow at UK in a Changing Europe. She is a professor of political sociology at Queen’s University Belfast, and fellow in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice. Katy’s project focuses on the post-Brexit status, and future, of Northern Ireland.

      Related Posts

      Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill, right, and Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald at the RDS in Dublin
      Brexit

      Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: a hopeless case and a dangerous one?

      byAnthony Robinson
      29 June 2022
      Prime minister PMQ prep
      Brexit

      Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

      byAnthony Robinson
      28 June 2022
      Money on the floor - £20 notes
      Brexit

      The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

      byAnthony Robinson
      13 June 2022
      Imperial Measurements
      Brexit

      Inching ever backwards: the proposed return to imperial measurements

      byPaul Bright
      10 June 2022
      Sheep
      Brexit

      I’m a sheep and cattle farmer in Yorkshire – Brexit has left farmers in fear for their futures

      byPeter Gittins
      9 June 2022
      Next Post
      Bring British

      We need a new narrative about what being British really means

      Want to support us?

      Can you help Yorkshire Bylines to grow and become more sustainable with a regular donation, no matter how small?  

      DONATE

      Sign up to our newsletter

      If you would like to receive the Yorkshire Bylines regular newsletter, straight talking direct to your inbox, click the button below.

      NEWSLETTER

      LATEST

      RAF Linton

      Is the Home Office planning more law breaking at Linton camp?

      30 June 2022
      Eton College

      The public cost of private schools: rising fees and luxury facilities raise questions about charitable status

      30 June 2022
      Johnson and Macron

      Mais oui, mon ami: Johnson and Macron display ‘le bromance’ and discuss a European Political Community

      29 June 2022
      Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill, right, and Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald at the RDS in Dublin

      Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: a hopeless case and a dangerous one?

      29 June 2022

      MOST READ

      Prime minister PMQ prep

      Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

      28 June 2022
      Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill, right, and Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald at the RDS in Dublin

      Northern Ireland Protocol Bill: a hopeless case and a dangerous one?

      29 June 2022
      Photo credit Robert Sharp / englishpenLicensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

      The Davis Downside Dossier

      1 January 2021
      Roundhay High School in 2000. It was demolished soon afterwards and the front of Roundhay
Boys’ School next door was kept and the new school built behind it.

      Liz Truss and “my comprehensive school”

      28 December 2020

      BROWSE BY TAGS

      antivaxxers Charity Climate change Coronavirus Cost of living Creative industries Crime Cummings Democracy Devolution Equality Farming Fishing History Immigration Johnson Journalism Labour Mental health NHS Northern Ireland protocol Pollution Poverty PPE Starmer Travel Ukraine
      Yorkshire Bylines

      Yorkshire Bylines is a regional online newspaper that supports citizen journalism. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Yorkshire and beyond.

      Learn more about us

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Contact
      • About
      • Letters
      • Donate
      • Privacy
      • Bylines network
      • Shop

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • News
        • Brexit
        • Education
        • Environment
        • Health
        • Home Affairs
        • Transport
        • World
      • Politics
      • Opinion
      • Lifestyle
        • Culture
        • Dance
        • Food
        • Music
        • Poetry
        • Recipes
        • Sport
      • Business
        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Donate
      • The Compendium of Cabinet Codebreakers
      • The Davis Downside Dossier
      • The Digby Jones Index
      • Newsletter sign up
      • Cartoons by Stan
      • Authors

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In