Windsor Framework: New NI trade rules 'will work unbelievably well'
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Chris Heaton-Harris said he wanted to address unionist concerns about the Windsor Framework
The new system for moving goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will work "unbelievably well", the Northern Ireland secretary has said.
Chris Heaton-Harris urged the public to reserve judgement until they see how frictionless the new controls will be.
The secretary of state was speaking after the first day of the new Windsor Framework arrangements came into force.
They include new labelling and a red and green lane operation at the ports to ease trade.
"When people look practically at what is happening they will see we have got as close to a frictionless border as we can," Mr Heaton-Harris said.
Unionist parties had raised concerns about additional checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which shares a land border with the European Union.
Stormont has been without a functioning executive or assembly due to a protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
Speaking on Sunday at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Heaton-Harris told BBC News NI the paperwork required for those business in a new trusted trader scheme is the same as what is needed for goods moving from his constituency in Daventry to the Isle of Wight.
"The process is unbelievably straightforward, so straightforward that 1,600 new business have registered to use the green lane," he added.
"People will see goods moving freely from GB to NI and I think the best way to judge it is look at what is practically happening. People will find it will operate unbelievably well."
When is an Irish Sea border not an Irish Sea border is the question the Secretary of State danced around.
Chis Heaton-Harris chose his words carefully, mindful of the constitutional concerns of unionists as he tries to coax the DUP back to Stormont.
Instead, he urged the public to reserve judgement on the new green and red lanes, safe in the knowledge there will be no disruption.
He is desperate to switch the focus from the constitutional fall out to the economic spin off.
The government has now moved on in the hope the DUP will follow.
The first lorries to operate under the green and red lane system arrived in Belfast Harbour on Sunday morning
Meanwhile, the DUP executive is due to meet later this week as talks between the party leadership and the government continue over the Windsor Framework.
The BBC understands the 130 members of the party's executive - which is made up of political representatives and grassroots members - have been invited to the meeting on Thursday night in Lurgan.
It will be an opportunity for the leadership to brief them on the ongoing talks with the government.
Mr Heaton-Harris said the government is working on a response to the remaining concerns raised by the DUP.
UUP calls for DUP leadership
Earlier on Monday, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, Doug Beattie, urged the DUP to show "courage and leadership".
Speaking at the Conservative party conference, Mr Beattie said that political parties need to start working for the people of Northern Ireland.
"I get a lot of grief for my stance but I'm as strong a unionist as anybody and I think our protections within the union can be found in the Good Friday Agreement and that means being in Stormont," he added.
Mr Beattie said the operation of red and green lanes is not the place where his party wanted to be, but he would have to deal with "real politics" and "maximise opportunities".
When asked about the restoration of the Stormont institutions, Mr Beattie said he was as "pessimistic" as he had ever been about a return.
The green lane/red lane system is supposed to reduce bureaucracy for GB goods which have NI as their final destination.
Mr Heaton Harris said he had visited the port at Birkenhead to see the new arrangements.
He previously said the new system would mean "the substantial majority" of trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland will be "treated as UK internal trade".
One of the biggest changes affects food products moving across the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland.
Under the framework, UK public health and safety standards, rather than those imposed by the EU, will apply to retail food and drink, reducing bureaucracy for Great Britain trusted traders.
This is leading to "Not for EU" labels on Great Britain food products, designed to assure the EU that products will not be wrongly sold in its internal market.
Preliminary notice
In July, a preliminary notice was lodged with Mid and East Antrim Borough Council for the construction of three border control post buildings at the Port of Larne.
The proposed site at Redlands Road is to include stores, an internal spine road and car parking, boundary fencing, security huts and CCTV.
The application states: "The construction of inspection facilities are required to permit departmental and local authority officials to undertake their statutory duty to carry out sanitary and phytosanitary inspections on agri-food goods and livestock imported into Northern Ireland."
The UK government's Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs has said the planned development in Larne is to "set up a permanent Sanitary and Phytosanitary SPS inspection post to replace the temporary facilities currently operating."
In 2020, before the Northern Ireland Protocol was implemented, sites for permanent BCPs were identified, planning consent was achieved and contractors were appointed - but nothing was built.