UK sets out new trade measures to restore Northern Ireland government

Britain unveiled a package of post-Brexit trading measures on Wednesday to strengthen Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom, a move welcomed by local politicians who are now expected to restore a power-sharing government. 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 a "comprehensive deal" for all sides to 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." Heaton-Harris said parliament would debate to approve the proposed new measures on Thursday. The most important step in resuming the power-sharing government in Stormont had been to win 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 most of the DUP over.

CRITICISM In the early hours of Tuesday, the DUP said it had endorsed the proposals after the party had spent months holding out for a better deal from the London government. "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." But there were some who felt the new measures did not go far enough. Sammy Wilson, a DUP lawmaker, said there would still be "EU-manned border posts" in Northern Ireland.

"This is a result of this spineless, weak-kneed, Brexit-betraying government refusing to take on the EU and its interference in Northern Ireland," he told parliament. Such views appeared unlikely to derail the restoration of the power-sharing government, which the DUP says can take place after the legislation is passed.

The restoration of regional government is a key part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end three decades of violence between Irish nationalists, who want a united Ireland, and unionists, who support British rule. The proposed measures include 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'.

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