The Windsor Framework: A new way forward for Northern Ireland

The Windsor Framework, agreed by the Prime Minister and European Commission President, replaces the old Northern Ireland Protocol, providing a new legal and UK constitutional framework.

• Fundamentally rewriting the Treaty with new ‘Stormont Brake’ means UK can veto new EU goods laws if they are not supported by both communities in Northern Ireland
• New green lane removes any sense of a border in Irish Sea
• Northern Ireland to benefit from same VAT, food and drink and medicines as the rest of the UK

A new way forward for a prosperous, stable future for Northern Ireland has been set out, rewriting the Treaty to fix the practical problems for the people and businesses of Northern Ireland, protects Northern Ireland’s place within our Union, and restores the balance of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its dimensions.

The Windsor Framework, agreed by the Prime Minister and European Commission President yesterday, replaces the old Northern Ireland Protocol, dealing with the issues it has created and providing a new legal and UK constitutional framework.

It delivers free-flowing trade in goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland by removing any sense of the border in the Irish Sea for goods staying within the UK. These goods will travel as normal through a new green lane without red tape or unnecessary checks, with the only checks remaining designed to prevent smuggling or crime.

It protects Northern Ireland’s place in our Union, replacing swathes of EU laws with UK laws and ensuring the people of Northern Ireland can benefit from the same tax policies, food and drink, medicines, and parcels as the rest of the UK.

It puts the people of Northern Ireland in charge with active democratic consent. The Agreement rewrites the Treaty text with a new Stormont Brake that means the UK can veto new EU goods laws if they are not supported by both communities in Northern Ireland, which goes far beyond previous agreements or discussions on the old Protocol.

At Monday’s press conference, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Today’s agreement is written in the language of laws and treaties. But really, it’s about much more than that.

“It’s about stability in Northern Ireland. It’s about real people and real businesses. It’s about showing that our Union, that has lasted for centuries, can and will endure.

“And it’s about breaking down the barriers between us. Setting aside the arguments that have for too long, divided us. And remembering the fellow feeling that defines us: This family of nations – this United Kingdom.”

The Windsor Framework delivers free-flowing movement of goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain and removes any sense of a border in the Irish Sea within the UK:

• A new green lane (the UK internal market scheme) means traders moving goods destined for Northern Ireland will be freed of unnecessary paperwork, checks and duties, using only ordinary commercial information rather than burdensome customs bureaucracy or complex certification requirements for agrifood. The same type of standard commercial information used when moving goods from Birmingham to the Isle of Wight will be used Birmingham to Belfast. All goods destined for the EU will use the red lane. 
• All requirements have been scrapped for trade from Northern Ireland to Great Britain on a permanent basis, including the requirement for export declarations.
• The green lane will be expanded to include food retailers such as supermarkets and hospitality businesses, significantly reducing SPS checks and costly paperwork, and ensuring choice for consumers on supermarket shelves. A single supermarket truck who previously had to provide 500 certificates can now instead make a straightforward commitment that goods will stay in Northern Ireland. Retailers will mark goods as “not for EU”, with a phased rollout of this requirement to give them time to adjust.
• Chilled meats like sausages, which were banned under the old Protocol, can move freely into Northern Ireland like other retail food products.
• Parcels from people or businesses in Great Britain can now be sent to friends, family, and consumers in Northern Ireland as they are today, without customs declarations, processes or extra costs under the old Protocol. Parcels sent business to business will travel via the green lane.

The Windsor Framework protects Northern Ireland’s place in the Union:

• The same medicines, in the same packs, with the same labels, will be available across the UK, without the need for barcode scanning requirements under the old Protocol. The UK will license all medicines for all UK citizens, including novel medicines like cancer drugs, rather than the European Medicines Agency under the old Protocol. NI’s healthcare industry will have full access to both UK and EU markets, supporting jobs and investment through a dual regulatory regime.
• Pets can also now travel freely with their owners across the UK, without expensive health treatments like rabies or documentation from a vet. Pet owners in Northern Ireland won’t have to do a thing when travelling to GB. Where they’re not moving on to Ireland or the rest of the EU, GB owners with microchipped pets can either easily sign up for a lifetime travel document for their pet, available online and electronically in a matter of minutes, or an equally seamless process built into the booking processfor a flight or ferry.
• Previously banned iconic plants like English oak trees and seed potatoes will once again move easily within the UK without the bureaucratic checks and costly certification under the old Protocol and instead use a similar process to the Plant Passport scheme that already exists in Great Britain. This will end restrictions that hampered consumer choice and damaged business whilst protecting the long-standing single epidemiological area on the island of Ireland.
• The legal text of the Treaty has been amended, so that critical VAT and excisechanges will apply to the whole of the UK. This means that zero-rates of VAT on energy saving materials like solar panels and alcohol duty reforms will now apply in Northern Ireland.
• The UK Government can continue to provide generous and targeted subsidiesacross the UK. The ‘reach-back’ risks under the old Protocol have been addressed with new stringent tests, so there are now almost no circumstances in which the Protocol applies to UK subsidies, providing certainty for businesses to trade and invest in Northern Ireland. We expect more than 98% of Northern Ireland subsidies to be unaffected in practice.

The Windsor Framework safeguards sovereignty and fixes the democratic deficit by putting the people of Northern Ireland in charge:

• The new Stormont Brake means the democratically elected Northern Ireland Assembly can oppose new EU goods rules that would have significant and lasting effects on everyday lives in Northern Ireland. They will do so on the same basis as the ‘petition of concern’ mechanism in the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, needing the support of 30 members from at least two parties. The Stormont Brake has been introduced by fundamentally rewriting the Treaty and goes significantly further than the ‘all or nothing vote’ under the old Protocol every four years at most.
• Over 1,700 of EU law have been removed, and with it ECJ interpretation and oversight in areas like VAT, medicines, and food safety – so the UK Government can decide and UK courts can interpret. The minimal set of EU rules – less than 3% – apply to preserve the privileged, unrestricted access for Northern Ireland businesses to the whole of the EU Single Market and avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The agreement concludes months of intensive discussions between the UK and EU to address real world issues and needs of the people of Northern Ireland.

Providing reassurance for the future, the UK and EU have agreed to work together to anticipate and deal with any other issues that may emerge and have made a joint declaration to resolve issues through dialogue, rather than formal dispute proceedings.

Alongside ‘The Windsor Framework: a new way forward’, the Government has published the full range of legal texts that underpin the Windsor Framework. These solutions put arrangements in Northern Ireland on an entirely new footing, with far-reaching changes to the old Protocol to provide lasting certainty and stability for citizens and businesses in Northern Ireland.

To give businesses and individuals time to prepare, the implementation of the agreement will be phased in, with some of the new arrangements for goods, agrifood, pets and plant movements introduced later this year and the remainder in 2024. In the meantime, the current temporary standstill arrangements will continue to apply.

The UK Government will no longer proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, as the UK and EU have come to a negotiated agreement. Similarly, the agreement will mean the EU withdrawing all of the legal actions it has launched against the UK.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak makes a speech on the Windsor Framework:

Good afternoon.

All our thoughts are with Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell and his family after last week’s abhorrent shooting in Omagh.

A man of extraordinary courage, his first thought was to protect the children he had been coaching. 

President Von der Leyen and I stand united with the people and leaders of all communities across Northern Ireland. 

Those trying to drag us back to the past will never succeed.

This afternoon, I welcomed President Von der Leyen to Windsor to continue our discussions about the Northern Ireland Protocol.

I’m pleased to report that we have now made a decisive breakthrough.

Together, we have changed the original Protocol and are today announcing the new Windsor Framework.

Today’s agreement:

• Delivers smooth flowing trade within the whole United Kingdom. 
• Protects Northern Ireland’s place in our Union.
• And safeguards sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland.

These negotiations have not always been easy, but I’d like to pay an enormous personal tribute to Ursula for her vision in recognising the possibility of a new way forward. 

And to my colleagues the Foreign and Northern Ireland Secretaries for their steadfast leadership.

The United Kingdom and the European Union may have had our differences in the past, but we are allies, trading partners, and friends … something that we’ve seen clearly in the past year as we joined with others, to support Ukraine.  

This is the beginning of a new chapter in our relationship. 

For a quarter of a century the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement has endured because at its heart is respect for the aspirations and identities of all communities.

Today’s agreement is about preserving that delicate balance and charting a new way forward for the people of Northern Ireland. 

I am standing here today because I believe that we have found ways to end the uncertainty and challenge for the people of Northern Ireland.

We have taken three big steps forward.

First, today’s agreement delivers the smooth flow of trade within the United Kingdom. 

Goods destined for Northern Ireland will travel through a new Green Lane, with a separate Red Lane for goods at risk of moving onto the EU.

In the Green Lane, burdensome customs bureaucracy will be scrapped.

It means food retailers like supermarkets, restaurants and wholesalers will no longer need hundreds of certificates for every lorry.

And we will end the situation where food made to UK rules could not be sent to and sold in Northern Ireland. 

This means that if food is available on the supermarket shelves in Great Britain … then it will be available on supermarket shelves in Northern Ireland.

And unlike the Protocol, today’s agreement means people sending parcels to friends and family or doing their shopping online, will have to complete no customs paperwork. 

This means we have removed any sense of a border in the Irish Sea.

Second, we have protected Northern Ireland’s place in the Union. 

We’ve amended the legal text of the Protocol to ensure we can make critical VAT and excise changes for the whole of the UK…

…for example on alcohol duty, meaning our reforms to cut the cost of a pint in the pub will now apply in Northern Ireland.

The same quintessentially British products like trees, plants, and seed potatoes – will again be available in Northern Ireland’s garden centres.

Onerous requirements on pet travel have been removed.

And today’s agreement also delivers a landmark settlement on medicines. 

From now on, drugs approved for use by the UK’s medicines regulator… will be automatically available in every pharmacy and hospital in Northern Ireland.

Third, today’s agreement safeguards sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland. 

The only EU law that applies in Northern Ireland under the Framework … is the minimum necessary to avoid a hard border with Ireland and allow Northern Irish businesses to continue accessing the EU market. 

But I know that many people in Northern Ireland are also worried about being subject to changes to EU goods laws. 

To address that, today’s agreement introduces a new Stormont Brake.

Many had called for Stormont to have a say over these laws. 

But the Stormont Brake goes further and means that Stormont can in fact stop them from applying in Northern Ireland.

This will establish a clear process through which the democratically elected Assembly can pull an emergency brake … for changes to EU goods rules that would have significant, and lasting effects on everyday lives. If the brake is pulled, the UK government will have a veto.

This gives the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland a powerful new safeguard, based on cross community consent.

I believe the Windsor Framework marks a turning point for the people of Northern Ireland. 

It fixes the practical problems they face. 

It preserves the balance of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. 

Of course, parties will want to consider the agreement in detail, a process that will need time and care.

Today’s agreement is written in the language of laws and treaties. 

But really, it’s about much more than that. 

It’s about stability in Northern Ireland. 

It’s about real people and real businesses. 

It’s about showing that our Union, that has lasted for centuries, can and will endure.

And it’s about breaking down the barriers between us.

Setting aside the arguments that for too long, have divided us. 

And remembering the fellow feeling that defines us: This family of nations – this United Kingdom.