Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent progress the Government has made in facilitating trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Government is committed to strengthening the Union and Northern Ireland’s place within it. Increasing trade flows between the four nations of the UK is a key part of that strategy. To that end, we have legislated to ensure unfettered access for trade from Northern Ireland to Great Britain and invested £200 million to support businesses trading between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, through schemes such as the Trader Support Service.

We are currently in negotiations with the EU to resolve the issues experienced by traders under the Northern Ireland Protocol and the next meeting of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee will be held next week.