Posted 1/25/2024, 3:32:00 PM
UK vows to retain regulatory autonomy, complicating NI trade talks
- UK Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the UK will retain the ability to diverge from EU rules, despite reported plans to limit divergence to ease NI trade.
- Limiting regulatory divergence could help restore NI power-sharing and minimize post-Brexit trade barriers between NI and Great Britain.
- NI has stayed in the EU single market, requiring new checks on GB goods, known as the Irish Sea border.
- Growing UK-EU divergence could increase these checks and disrupt NI-GB trade flows.
- A deal to screen laws for impacts on internal UK trade could help convince the DUP to end its boycott of devolution over the NI Protocol.