Protect business minorities and don’t lose trust

It is perhaps inevitable that marking anniversaries and glancing in the rear-view mirror are familiar practices across society. In a place where so much of our past dominates the present, learning lessons from history to help shape a better future has never been so apt.

The current political machinations at Stormont are overshadowed by the NI Protocol, with much talk of the need to protect the Good Friday Agreement, being contrasted with concerns around protecting sovereignty. For small businesses, the need for urgent progress to resolve the challenges they face as a result of the Protocol is essential.

Some people point to the advantages the Protocol could deliver, with dual access to the EU and GB markets, suggesting that it could benefit many firms; but there is a very significant minority of businesses suffering badly because of it, and that should be unacceptable to all of us.

Our history shows that we need to protect our minorities and not ride roughshod over them.

Drawing on lessons from 1998, there is clearly a need for the EU and UK government to reach a negotiated solution to the Protocol’s challenges, focused on removing friction on the movement of goods between GB and NI. Just as the protection of minorities was a key element of Good Friday Agreement so, too, safeguarding the livelihoods of small firms should be a priority for the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and the EU Vice-President Maros Šefčovič.

We’re often reminded that small businesses employ more people than all large businesses and the entire public sector, combined.

As such, they are vital to communities right across the region, so we must do everything we can to ensure that suffocating bureaucracy doesn’t damage or destroy them. Reducing the level of paperwork on products coming into and remaining in Northern Ireland is vital.

Establishing flexibilities around health checks would go a long way to softening the impact of the Protocol impediments.

Both sides have proposed improvements, so striking the balance between protecting the EU Single Market and enabling the free-flow of goods within the UK’s Internal Market will be key.

Just as the Belfast Agreement was the result of colossal compromises so, too, a fresh impetus needs to be brought to the Protocol negotiating table.

An agreement before the end of February may occur, so if ever there were a time to stay ‘laser-focused’ - as Liz Truss recently pledged - it is now. Focusing on solutions that remove layers of paperwork, additional costs and ease UK internal trading is where the light should be shone.

Kenneth Branagh’s critically acclaimed multi-Oscar nominated film, Belfast is a timely reminder of the costs that can be levied when society makes bad choices.

The film explores the tumultuous early years of the director’s childhood in the city and has proven to be a big hit with audiences; perhaps because it struck a chord with many who have lived through our troubled past.

We mustn’t lose the valuable lessons of all our past experiences as we chart the path ahead.

Trust was damaged over decades, and present-day difficulties quickly highlight the challenge of rebuilding it. With the Protocol, many of the problems could be overcome quickly by moving to a system that trusts traders to operate within the rules, confirmed by independent certification. The deli owner, or the wholesaler, or the coffee importer who solely trade in Northern Ireland present no risk the EU Single Market.

To agree a “trusted trader” status for them that can be confirmed by their accountant or auditor could lift them out of the entire process of document filling bureaucracy, yet still give assurance to the EU.

If the number of checks is reduced, but all the paperwork is still required, then the burden is still there, and there is clearly little trust.

That quickly sows the seeds of discontent and damage, with all the negative consequences we know that can bring and must be avoided at all costs.

Roger Pollen is Head of FSB NI.