Lynas Wholesale MD Andrew Lynas has said additional costs caused by the Windsor Framework have had to be passed through to customers.
The government framework came into effect on 1 October 2023. It looked to address some of the issues around the initial Brexit deal and was designed to make it easier for businesses to trade between Northern Ireland and the UK. However, it has been widely critisised for being complicated and hard to navigate.
Speaking with the BBC, Andrew Lynas said: “The reality is we do pay more, there is more paperwork, there are more health certificates, lots of checks.
“Our stock holding is up half a million pounds because of it, and I would say that the cost of goods is an extra 1% to 3% versus what you would pay in the mainland.”
He said that he “doesn’t want and doesn’t like it”, adding that the Windsor Framework is “still difficult to figure out”.
As part of the framework, ‘green lanes’ are for goods moving from the UK that will remain in Northern Ireland and require minimal checks. ‘Red lanes’ are for goods entering Northern Ireland from the UK that are considered ‘at risk’ of moving on to the EU.
These goods must undergo full EU customs checks and declarations.
Lynas said the green lanes “work brilliantly if you’re a retail business in Northern Ireland”, adding that it is a “big improvement”. However, he said for “an all-island business in any shape or form” that “it doesn’t work” when using the red lanes.
Read more: What’s going wrong with the Windsor Framework?
But the government has insisted that the Windsor Framework is the “only workable solution for Northern Ireland”.
It is “safeguarding Northern Ireland’s place in the UK Internal Market and the EU Single Market, and ensuring no hard border on the island of Ireland,” a spokesperson said.
However, as discussions between the UK and EU will take place this autumn, Lynas is urging better use of technology and AI to improve the current framework.
“How do we build on the trust that is there and say, let’s actually make this work for the long term? And so we have an agreement for the next five to 10 years.”
The foodservice business joins many in the food and drink industry that have felt a negative impact from the framework.
According to an FSB NI survey of 778 small UK companies, 34% of businesses have ceased trading between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, while 58% are experiencing moderate to significant difficulties.
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