UK offers DUP patriotic rebrand of Irish Sea border

A sign is seen with a message against the Brexit border checks

The UK has offered the DUP a patriotic rebrand of the Irish Sea border in an attempt to get the unionists to back Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.

British negotiators hoping to end the DUP’s nearly two-year boycott of Stormont have suggested renaming the Windsor Framework’s Green Lane the “UK Internal Market Lane” instead.

The DUP has refused to return to power-sharing since February 2022 because it fears the border chills intra-UK trade and loosens Northern Ireland’s ties to Britain. A “crunch meeting” described as a “deal or no deal moment” of DUP party officers is scheduled for Friday, BBC Radio Ulster reported on Friday morning.

“It’s ridiculous,” said a source in the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers of the rebrand to give the impression of a frictionless border.

“It’s still a border down the middle of the UK.”

‘Stop gaslighting unionists’

UK officials had held secret talks with the European Commission over “wriggle room” in the framework Brexit deal and favourable language around it, The Telegraph revealed on Thursday.

But they did not ask Brussels to negotiate the treaty, which ended a lengthy row that brought the UK and EU to the brink of a trade war.

Jamie Bryson, an influential loyalist activist in Northern Ireland who campaigns against the Irish Sea border, said: “You can call it the King Billy Red, White and Blue lane if you want and the Loyal Ulster agreement, it matters not. It’s about the substance. Stop gaslighting unionists.”

As part of the offer to the DUP, the cosmetic overhaul was accompanied by some minor reductions in red tape for goods in the clunkily rechristened “UK Internal Market Lane”, two sources told The Telegraph.

British goods going through the Green Lane to Northern Ireland face fewer border checks under the terms of the Windsor Framework, which was named to carry support among fervently royalist unionists.

The rebrand was on the table alongside a £3.3 billion financial package for Stormont if power-sharing was restored.

The Government is also willing to legislate to protect Northern Ireland’s place in the UK’s internal market and establish an East-West council to deepen internal UK trade links.

But the offer failed to convince Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, to put the deal before his party last week.

That meant a deadline for fresh Northern Ireland Assembly elections to be called was missed on Thursday.

The Government is expected to legislate to once again push back the election deadline, which increases the possibility of Stormont staying mothballed until after the UK general election.

Labour is expected to win that vote and has vowed to forge closer relations with the EU, including a veterinary health deal, which is likely to reduce Irish Sea border checks.

The failure to restore the executive meant the financial package could not be used to prevent Northern Ireland’s biggest strike in 50 years.

It included almost £600 million to settle the public sector pay claims which led more than 150,000 nurses, teachers, road gritters and civil servants to down tools on Thursday.

Chris Heaton-Harris, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said in the early hours of Friday he will introduce new legislation taking a “pragmatic, appropriate and limited approach” to addressing the political deadlock.

In the absence of a functioning Stormont, this would help “Northern Ireland departments to manage the immediate and evident challenges they face in stabilising public services and finances”.

The European Commission stopped referring to the “Green Lane” before the Windsor Framework was signed. The term is not used in the treaty, although it is used by British ministers.

An EU official said it would not be a problem if the UK sought to label it the “UK Internal Market Lane” to placate the DUP.

“I suppose it’s fine,” the official said.

“If it’s only cosmetic, who cares?” an EU diplomat added.

The Government was asked for comment.

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