Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what level of surcharge has been applied under the Northern Ireland Protocol to Christmas cards sent from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

Full implementation of the Protocol would introduce burdensome customs requirements on post and parcels sent from GB to NI, including those that are 'business to consumer' and 'consumer to consumer'. A grace period for these requirements is currently in place.

Nonetheless, we have seen disruption to supplies of post and parcels into NI. This includes the introduction of surcharges for GB to NI deliveries and price differentiation, while over 200 businesses have stopped delivery into NI.

We are also aware of incidents where deliveries into NI have incorrectly been subject to customs formalities. Following detailed checks, we are unaware of any examples where Christmas cards ended up being subjected to a fee or surcharge.