Postponed ‘Not for EU’ Labels: A Setback for Unionists and the Irish Sea Border?

The Guardian reports that the Government’s plans to force food manufacturers to put “not for EU” labels on all meat and dairy products sold across Britain next month have been indefinitely postponed after warnings that the scheme could cause “chaos” for producers and suppliers.

Had this been done by the Tories, especially in Boris Johnson’s time, I would have expected it to be sticking two fingers up to the EU. In this case, it seems Unionists are the losers. This measure had been designed to reduce checks and paperwork at the Irish Sea border so that Unionists could feel that NI was less apart/different from the rest of the UK.

The Irish Sea Border has two channels: a Red Channel and a Green Channel. The Green Channel is ‘light touch’ and relies on pre-filled data that barely needs to be checked. The Red Channel is more like a proper international border, particularly for phytosanitary and agricultural disease-type checks. This labelling was so that agricultural/food goods from Britain could all use the Green Channel at the Irish Sea border, now it just means that they will have to use the Red Channel.

I doubt the EU will be bothered but Unionists will. Shops and supermarkets in Northern Ireland are likely to source more goods from the South in response. This will grow the all island’ Irish economy that Unionists so object to.

Presumably, the Labour Party has other plans to align the whole of the UK with the EU. In any case, the Unionists are not in much position to do anything about it, and I can’t see anyone caring in Britain when it comes to the next election five years away.

Keir Starmer has proven himself surprisingly adept at side-stepping right-wing criticism. His recent cozy chat with the far-right Italian Prime Minister about relocating asylum seekers to Albania shows that he knows how to occupy their territory. If the Brexiters or Unionists think they’ll be able to clobber him over this issue, I doubt it. Presumably, he has plans to make the conversation about the EU something completely different when it comes to the next elections which are still five years away.

Ben M