Framework's promised investment has not come - Allister

The debate comes ahead of a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly on the Windsor Framework due by the end of the year

Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trade arrangements have not produced the "magical foreign investment" some had promised, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) has said.

Jim Allister was speaking during a Westminster debate on the Windsor Framework, which governs trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

The MP said the UK government deal with the European Union "turned out largely to be insubstantial spin".

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said the framework respects "Northern Ireland's unique circumstances" and "really does bring a lot of benefits".

The debate comes ahead of a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly on the Windsor Framework due by the end of the year.

The process, known as the democratic consent motion, was contained in the UK and EU's 2020 Withdrawal Agreement to give local politicians a say on the rules.

The Windsor Framework was agreed between the government and EU in 2023 following unionist concerns over trade barriers under their original post-Brexit deal, the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Allister, who secured the Westminster debate, said the framework was "the original protocol by another name".

He said it was "packaged as a tremendous opportunity for Northern Ireland" with promises of an "avalanche of foreign direct investment".

But he told MPs this has not happened, as the "counterbalance" to EU single market access was an Irish Sea trade border with Great Britain.

"And that is why it hasn't produced the magical foreign investment, because anyone thinking of investing, not just thinks about where they're going to sell their goods, they're going to think about where they're going to get their raw materials," he added.

Northern Ireland's devolved government was restored in February after a two-year hiatus.

It followed the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) ending its boycott of the power-sharing institutions after securing a deal with the government, called Safeguarding the Union.

'Unique circumstances'

During the debate on Tuesday, Benn said the "Windsor Framework arrangements, together with steps taken under Safeguarding the Union, do respect Northern Ireland's unique circumstances".

The secretary of state said the government was committed to implementing the Windsor Framework "in good faith" as well as "protecting Northern Ireland's place in United Kingdom and the UK internal market".

DUP leader Gavin Robinson told Benn that agreements under the Safeguarding the Union deal "need to be honoured".

"And whilst deadlines have slipped, there is a huge imperative upon him and his government to respond appropriately, and earnestly implement the very things that saw a return to devolution in Northern Ireland," he added.

Benn said that outstanding issues with goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland "could be resolved" with an SPS (Sanitary and Phytosanitary) and veterinary agreement with the EU.

"We will only get such an agreement, as every honourable member in this chamber knows, if we honour the last agreement we signed with the European Union," he added.