Opinion

ANALYSIS: British government package helps overcome problems Brexit created

The British government's investment package will ensure the north's businesses don't incur extra cost when importing goods
The British government's investment package will ensure the north's businesses don't incur extra cost when importing goods The British government's investment package will ensure the north's businesses don't incur extra cost when importing goods

BREXIT makes things complicated. It dismantles decades of measures that were designed to make trading across borders straightforward. Much to the relief of businesses in the north, the Ireland/Northern Ireland Protocol element of the Withdrawal Agreement ensures the advantages that came with EU membership are retained. The north remains in the EU Single Market but also in the UK customs territory, with a new regulatory border in the Irish Sea.

Potentially, it's a 'best of both worlds' situation but one that requires paper work to verify the origin of goods and their ultimate destination, which for businesses translates into additional cost.

The £355m package announced by Michael Gove during his visit to the region yesterday is designed to negate these costs when the new trading arrangements come into effect at the end of the transition period on January 1. Around £155m will be spent on developing the necessary IT for the new system, which provides end-to-end support to deal with import, safety and security declarations on behalf of traders, while the remainder of the money will cover the actual cost of the paper work, meaning no additional expense for businesses. It's a taxpayer-funded financial solution to the economic problems created by a political decision.

Perhaps the only potential pitfall is that the entirely digital system must be put in place and operational within a matter of months.

The investment has been welcomed by the north's business organisations, who, if all the barriers to trade are overcome, will find themselves at an advantage compared to their counterparts in Britain and the Republic. Some flexibility from both the British government and the EU is necessary in the weeks ahead as there remains a number of outstanding issues, such as so-called sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks on food and animals, resolving VAT and ensuring unfettered access to markets in Britain for the north's businesses. However, compared to the hard border all these measures are designed to avoid, what's on offer is infinitely favourable.