NI Protocol: M&S warns against separate labelling for NI goods

M&S chairman Archie Norman warned labelling would create "overbearing and prohibitive costs"

Marks & Spencer has warned that separate labelling for goods being sold in Northern Ireland would not be a viable change to the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The protocol is the post-Brexit deal which keeps Northern Ireland inside the EU single market for goods.

The UK and EU are negotiating ways to improve its operations.

Both have previously suggested labelling could have a role in reducing checks and controls on goods.

M&S chairman Archie Norman has written to the foreign secretary to warn that labelling would mean "overbearing and prohibitive costs" for retailers.

In July 2021 the UK government proposed that "appropriate labelling requirements so that goods could only be sold in the UK" should be part of a radical plan to reduce controls on Great Britain goods, particularly food products, entering Northern Ireland.

That was echoed by the EU in October 2021 which said that one condition for reducing checks and paperwork was for goods to be labelled "at the level of the individual end-consumer packaging, with words such as 'products for sale only in the United Kingdom'".

Both the UK government and the EU have suggested extra labelling could have a role in reducing checks and controls on goods

However M&S said that would create difficulties for businesses which sell outside the UK, particularly into the Republic of Ireland.

In the letter it said products for export would need separate production runs, packaging and segregated stock.

It added that such a requirement would "completely undermine the all-Ireland supply we have set up to help get around the current issues".

The letter said Northern Ireland-specific labelling would create similar problems, "requiring specific production runs and segregated stock for about 7-9% of our volume, incurring cost of packaging changes on every production run".

'Baffling'

Mr Norman said any solution needed to be fully digital, adding that "retailers already operate in real time digital information - day or night, at the click of a button, we can locate our products, be that in a depot, in transit or in a store".

"In a digital era - when one tap of a mobile can check-in a customer at store and locate their order in under 60 seconds, it's baffling that the government and the EU have rewound four decades to discuss an expensive 'solution' involving stickers & labelling," he said.

It is understood the UK has not ruled out a role for labelling, seeing it as a standard practice for all food retailers.

"The protocol is causing real problems in Northern Ireland. These include trade disruption and diversion, significant costs and bureaucracy for traders," a government spokesperson said.

"It's our preference to resolve these problems through talks, and the government is engaging in constructive dialogue with the EU to find solutions."

Mr Norman, a former Conservative MP, has been a vocal critic of the impacts of the protocol on the M&S business.

However the company has continued to expand in Northern Ireland, opening new food stores.

It also restored its Christmas food ordering service in Northern Ireland in 2022 having suspended it in 2021.