Irish Sea Border: Small businesses still being ‘crucified’

It can be hard to see the impact of the sea border in Northern Ireland’s economic statistics.

It is most obvious in the trade data, which shows business between the two parts of the island at a record high.

This suggests that some products which NI businesses or consumers were getting from GB are now coming from Ireland or the wider EU.

Official data suggests that NI has had a significantly better recovery from the pandemic than the UK average.

However, that growth has come almost entirely from the services sector, which is not covered by the Windsor Framework.

By contrast, manufacturing output has been flat, with energy costs, skills shortages, and disruptions to global trade seemingly more significant than the benefits of dual market access.

If, as seems likely, the Assembly votes for the Windsor Framework to remain, businesses will continue to grapple with the sea border.

At the end of this week we will see that a border is not a fixed and stable set of arrangements.

An update in EU product safety rules, which apply in NI, means some businesses in GB face new rules when selling to Northern Ireland.

The change is a particular challenge for micro businesses selling through online platforms, with some saying they will no longer be able to get their goods across the sea border.