The U.K. has not yet designated a competent authority for Northern Ireland, and discussions between EU and U.K. authorities on its implementation are still ongoing.
With the prospect of yet more Brexit barriers this year, frustrations are running high among British businesses.
According to a recent survey conducted by the British Chamber of Commerce’s Insights Unit, more than half (54 percent) of exporters think the U.K.-EU trade deal is not helping them grow sales.
While some of the upcoming trade barriers are not directly in scope of the U.K.-EU ‘reset’ deal, McReynolds said he was “confident that the U.K. government are live to all these issues and where possible will be seeking to negotiate mitigations. But these will take time.”
Seeking closer alignment
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has raised hopes of a broader ‘reset’ that goes beyond the parameters agreed at the Brexit summit last May. A five-year review of the post-Brexit trade deal is also expected this year.
In an interview with the BBC, Starmer said that he wanted the U.K. to seek “even closer alignment” with the single market.
Beyond agrifood and energy deals, “there are other areas where we should consider if it’s in our interests to […] align with the single market,” he said. “Now that needs to be considered on an issue-by-issue, sector-by-sector basis, but we’ve already done it with food and agriculture, and that will be implemented this year.”
But he pushed back at suggestions the U.K. should rejoin the customs union, adding: “We are better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment.”