Safeguarding the Union: Progress in implementing the Windsor Framework

What is the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper and what did it propose?

On 31 January 2024 Rishi Sunak’s government published the details of a deal reached with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to restore the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive. These institutions had not been fully functioning since February 2022 because of the DUP’s opposition to the operation of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland (“the Northern Ireland Protocol”).

A command paper outlining the deal – Safeguarding the Union – proposed changes centred on two main elements:

• Changes to the operation of the Windsor Framework and to the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 (IMA)
• Measures relating to Northern Ireland’s constitutional status

Two draft statutory instruments to implement some of these changes were also published alongside the command paper.

This briefing focuses on changes to the operation of the Windsor Framework and Internal Market Act, and other measures affecting the trade in goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The details of the measures relating to Northern Ireland’s constitutional status, and a financial package of increased funding for Northern Ireland can be found in Library briefing Northern Ireland devolution: Safeguarding the Union.

What are the Windsor Framework and Internal Market Act? Windsor Framework

The Windsor Framework is the name given to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland as amended by the EU and UK in March 2023. The Northern Ireland Protocol set out Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit relationship with both the EU and Great Britain. It formed part of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, the international treaty agreed between the EU and the UK, which regulates how the UK’s exit from the EU should work.

The Protocol came into force on 1 January 2021. It was intended to ensure there would be no “hard border” within the island of Ireland, including physical infrastructure and related checks and controls on the movement of goods.[1] It did this by applying relevant EU single market rules for goods to Northern Ireland, and the EU’s customs rules. This meant goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain had to be checked to ensure that they complied with relevant EU laws or that they would not move beyond Northern Ireland.

The Withdrawal Agreement is separate to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) which is the treaty that governs trade and other post-Brexit cooperation between the UK and the EU.

Internal Market Act

The Internal Market Act 2020 was passed to ensure free movement in goods and services between the four parts of the UK would continue after Brexit, as many of the legal underpinnings had been based on the EU’s single market.

The act also introduced specific provisions on Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market. These included a requirement that ‘qualifying goods’ moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain should not be discriminated against and should have ‘unfettered access’ to the rest of the UK, and it confirmed that UK customs and regulatory checks and processes would not apply.

Why were the proposals in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper needed?

Soon after the Protocol came into force the UK asked the EU for aspects of the Protocol to be changed after concerns arose (particularly from parts of Northern Ireland’s Unionist community, but also from affected industries) about how the Protocol would operate in Northern Ireland and the checks and controls it would impose on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.[2]

On 27 February 2023, after two years of negotiations, the EU and the UK announced that a new agreement had been reached to change the way the Northern Ireland Protocol would operate. The agreement included changes to the text of the Protocol which took effect in March 2024. The Protocol as amended is known as the Windsor Framework.

Despite the changes made by the Windsor Framework, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest Unionist party in Northern Ireland, refused to join a power-sharing Executive and blocked the functioning of the Northern Ireland Assembly, asking for more changes to be made to how the Protocol operates.[3]

At the end of the January 2024, the UK Government and the DUP reached an agreement, paving the way to the restoration of the devolved institutions. The proposed changes to the operation of the Windsor Framework were set out in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper, published on 31 January 2024. On 3 February 2024, the Northern Ireland Assembly met and Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin was appointed First Minister, and Emma Little-Pengelly, of the DUP, deputy First Minister.

How do the new Safeguarding the Union arrangements affect the operation of the Windsor Framework and Internal Market Act?

Some of the principal measures introduced in the Safeguarding the Union Command Paper that are explored in this paper include:

• Measures to remove exit procedures on goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain; and a guarantee of “unfettered access” for Northern Ireland goods to the rest of the UK regardless of the route through which they enter, including:
  • Changes to theUK Internal Market Act (IMA), to reinforce the policy of unfettered access of qualifying Northern Ireland goods to the Great Britain market (section 2.1 of this briefing)
  • Tightening the definition ofQualifying Northern Ireland Goods under the IMA, to try to ensure only Northern Ireland traders benefit from unfettered access to Great Britain, and not those just re-routing goods through Northern Ireland to avoid border checks (section 2.2)
  • Introducing statutory guidance (issued in September 2024) to public authorities on recognising the place of Northern Ireland in the UK internal market (section 2.3)
• A consultation onproposed legislation to extend the ‘not for EU’ labelling requirements for certain food products sold in Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK. In September 2024, the Labour government decided not to go ahead with the proposal (section 4)
• Creating an ‘internal market system’ (to replace the original ‘green lane’ concept) for goods entering Northern Ireland to reduce “burdens and formalities” (section 5), including by:
  • eliminating any physical checks on goods moving within the UK internal market system, except for the risk-based or intelligence-led checks (section 5.1)
  • reaching an agreement with the EU, which expands the list of agricultural and food products from outside the UK and the EU that can enter Northern Ireland from Great Britain via the ‘internal market lane’. This agreement allows Northern Ireland to benefit from tariff rate quotas which the UK offers to some non-EU countries.
  • expanding the list of goods imported from the rest of the world that can move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland Retail Movement Scheme by aligning Great Britain's entry requirements for some agri-food products with those of the EU.
• Establishing new bodies to implement, supervise and consult on the new deal and the Windsor Framework (section 6.1). These include:
  • an Independent Monitoring Panel to provide oversee the implementation of the Windsor Framework and report to government
  • a new body IntertradeUK, to promote trade within the UK
• Finding long-term, practical solutions for the supply of veterinary medicines in Northern Ireland, ahead of a grace period ending at the end of 2025, which forestalls the full operation of new EU regulations in this area (section 6.2).