UK sets out new trade measures to restore Northern Ireland government

(Adds Heaton-Harris comments in paragraphs 3-5, Donaldson in paragraphs 10-11) LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters) -

Britain published measures on Wednesday to strengthen Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom, a set of new post-Brexit trading rules welcomed by the region's politicians to allow the resumption of power-sharing in the region. After almost two years of a power vacuum in Northern Ireland, the regional government might be within days of returning, restoring a key part of a 1998 peace deal which ended decades of sectarian violence in the region.

Introducing the measures to parliament, Northern Ireland minister Chris Heaton-Harris described the package as "the right deal" for all sides to finally settle the concerns among unionists in Northern Ireland over the post-Brexit settlement. "The result ... is a deal that, taken as a whole, is the right one for Northern Ireland and for the Union," Heaton-Harris told parliament.

"With this package, it's now time for elected representatives in Northern Ireland to come together to end the two years of impasse and start work again in the interest of the people who elected them." The most important step in resuming the power-sharing government in Stormont was winning over the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the region's largest pro-British party.

It had argued that London's Brexit deal with the European Union undermined Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom by demanding checks on some goods coming from Britain, a move, the DUP said, that had put up a border in the Irish Sea. By saying it would introduce legislation to "copper-fasten Northern Ireland's political and constitutional place in the Union", alongside a 3.3 billion pound ($4.2 billion) financial package, the British government won the DUP over.

The measures included eliminating any physical checks when goods move within the so-called UK internal market system, meaning Britain and Northern Ireland, and that more than 80% of all freight movements from Great Britain to Northern Ireland would be treated as 'not at risk'. "I believe this package of measures together will safeguard our place in the union, will restore our place in the United Kingdom and its internal market and will get Stormont working again for the people of Northern Ireland," Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the DUP, told BBC Radio Ulster.

"The border in the Irish Sea is removed."

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