NIESR have poured cold water on claims made by the Conservative and Unionist Party that the NI Protocol is damaging trade with the UK.

National Institute of Economic and Social Research says freedom trade barrier-free with EU has 'benefited the North of Ireland post-Brexit.' 

   According to the National Institute of      Economic and Social Research, the North of Ireland's economic output "has slightly     outperformed the UK average." | Paul                  Faith/AFP via Getty Images 

                 May 11th, 2022. 

BELFAST - The post-Brexit trade protocol is helping, not hurting, growth and profitability in the North of Ireland because of its advantageous access to EU markets, according to a British economic think tank. 

Wednesday's findings from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research pour cold water on the Conservative and Unionist Party (including the DUP) claims that the protocol's requirement for EU checks on British goods arriving in the North of Ireland has undermined business opportunities. 

As part of its latest quarterly report on the U.K.'s economic outlook, the London-based research group says available data shows the reverse is true. It says the North of Ireland's economic output "has slightly outperformed the U.K. average." 

"This is partly an outcome of the NI protocol and its special status in the Brexit arrangements, including better trade and investment conditions as part of the EU's single market and customs union," the report found. 

"Closer links with the EU, through trade and also potentially labour mobility, have benefitted the North of Ireland post-Brexit," it added. 

The protocol treaty between the U.K. government and the European Commission, agreed in December 2019 as part of the wider Withdrawal Agreement, was designed to avoid creation of a two-way customs and sanitary border between the North of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member with extensive and growing connections with the U.K. region. 

Instead, the protocol requires one-way EU checks on British goods arriving into the Northern Irish ports as a less disruptive and more easily enforced option. Crucially, the protocol also leaves manufacturers in the North of Ireland, unlike the rest of the U.K., able to export barrier-free to the entire 27-nation EU. 

But the U.K. government since March 2021 has refused to implement protocol-mandated checks in full and is currently threatening to reduce them further, citing alleged damage to the North of Ireland's economy. 

The (UN)Democratic Unionist Party, who oppose the protocol because it makes trade in goods easier with the Republic of Ireland than the rest of the U.K., claim it has raised the North of Ireland’s retail prices 27 percent - an assertion not backed by any publicly available data. 

With many thanks to: Politico Pro and Shawn Pogatchnik  for the original publication. 

Follow this link to find out more information on this story: Unionism must accept the Protocol is here to stay it is the consequence of Brexit

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