A survey showing that two thirds of businesses here believe Northern Ireland’s unique post-Brexit status offers trading opportunities is evidence of the huge economic benefit of the Protocol, SDLP Brexit spokesperson Matthew O’Toole has said. 

The NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry Quarterly Economic Survey, published today shows that 67% of members of the business representative organisation believe that the unique trading arrangements offer economic benefits. A majority of businesses said they would like to take advantage of the dual-market access offered by the Protocol. 

The survey also indicated that businesses want to see stable government that puts capitalising on new opportunities to trade with other countries at the centre of an economic growth strategy. 

Matthew O’Toole MLA said: 

“Despite all the heat and all the exaggeration and all the misinformation, this survey shows that businesses are clear that they want to take advantage of the benefits of having globally unique access to two major markets, as the Protocol affords us. 

“For generations, Northern Ireland’s economy has lacked competitive advantage. Well now we have just that. Yes, there are practical challenges that the EU and UK need to solve collectively – and much progress has been made – but to throw away a huge opportunity to generate prosperity for our people would be a dereliction. 

“It is vital that politicians locally, but also in Dublin, Brussels and particularly in London, focus on giving these the stability and certainty they need to capitalise on these opportunities.”