Brexit: UK government pledges £355m to cushion Northern Ireland businesses

The UK government has announced a £355m package to cushion Northern Ireland businesses from the costs of trading with the rest of the UK because of Brexit.

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, said on Friday £200m would be spent on a trader support service (TSS) to help firms handle new bureaucracy to move goods across the Irish Sea, turning the government into a de facto customs agent for traders.

A further £155m will be spent on digital technology to streamline processes required by the new internal border created by the Northern Irish protocol, part of the Brexit deal that aligns the region to the UK customs territory and the EU customs code.

It means all businesses sending goods to the region from Great Britain will have to make formal declarations for the first time.

First details of the new trading conditions across the Irish Sea emerged last month, with businesses obliged to complete customs, security and transit forms on all goods being transported to Northern Ireland.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, was accused of misleading the public about the Brexit deal last November after footage emerged of him telling exporters in Northern Ireland they would not need to fill in extra paperwork. Downing Street continues to insist Northern Ireland will have unfettered access to markets in Great Britain.

(January 31, 1961)  Brefusal

The French president, Charles de Gaulle, vetoes Britain’s entry to EEC, accusing the UK of a “deep-seated hostility” towards the European project.

(January 31, 1973)  Brentry

With Sir Edward Heath having signed the accession treaty the previous year, the UK enters the EEC in an official ceremony complete with a torch-lit rally, dickie-bowed officials and a procession of political leaders, including former prime ministers Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home.

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It was a move that sowed the seeds of Tory Euroscepticism that was to later cause the Brexit schism in the party.

(January 31, 1988)  The Bruges speech

Thatcher served notice on the EU community in a defining moment in EU politics in which she questioned the expansionist plans of Jacques Delors, who had remarked that 80% of all decisions on economic and social policy would be made by the European Community within 10 years with a European government in “embryo”. That was a bridge too far for Thatcher.

(January 31, 1989)  The cold war ends

Collapse of Berlin wall and fall of communism in eastern Europe, which would later lead to expansion of EU.

(January 31, 1990) 'No, no, no'

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(January 31, 1992)  Black Wednesday

A collapse in the pound forced prime minister John Major and the then chancellor Norman Lamont to pull the UK out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

(January 31, 1993)  The single market

On 1 January, customs checks and duties were removed across the bloc. Thatcher hailed the vision of “a single market without barriers – visible or invisible – giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the world’s wealthiest and most prosperous people".

(January 31, 1993) Maastricht treaty

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(January 31, 1997)  Repairing the relationship

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(January 31, 1999)  Ukip

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(January 31, 2003) The euro

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(January 31, 2004)

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(January 31, 2007)

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(February 1, 2016)

David Cameron returns from Brussels with an EU reform package - but it isn't enough to appease the Eurosceptic wing of his own party

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After years of parliamentary impasse during Theresa May's attempt to get a deal agreed, the UK leaves the EU.

Gove, who is to visit Belfast on Friday, will also announce £300m in funding for the Peace Plus programme, which promotes peace, prosperity and reconciliation on the island of Ireland.

“Today’s £650m investment underlines our absolute commitment to the people and businesses of Northern Ireland as we move towards the end of the transition period.”

Gove, who as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is de facto deputy prime minister, added: “As we continue to engage with businesses, and our discussions with the EU proceed, we will update these resources to ensure that traders are ready for the end of the transition period.”

The trader support scheme, which is to start next month, will give free advice to companies and complete import declarations on their behalf, passing the administrative burden to officials and the taxpayer.

Business leaders welcomed the supports as significant but said more help would be needed.

“We’ve consistently said for a long time that the government should help with the cost of transition, because we’re facing the biggest change in how we move goods between GB and Northern Ireland in a lifetime and the burden of that shouldn’t fall on the shoulders on businesses here,” Seamus Leheny ,of the Freight Transport Association, told the BBC.

Aodhán Connolly, the director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, said the supports would help ease trade frictions but said the timeline was ambitious, details remained unclear and funding would need to be replenished. “This is finite. What happens when the money runs out?”