The Brexit referendum result sent shockwaves across these islands, leaving individuals, businesses, and communities grappling with uncertainty. Decades of multilateral cooperation, building institutions and understanding were distilled into a single yes-or-no question, with far-reaching and often severe consequences.
The UK’s departure from the European Union, a bloc that had profoundly shaped its cultural identity, economic prosperity, and legislative frameworks, has been marked by disruption, instability, and division.
Nowhere has this been more acutely felt than in Northern Ireland. Despite a strong pro-Remain majority, the people here have been forced to contend with a future they did not choose. The challenges of maintaining an open border between diverging economic entities have tested political and economic stability, threatening the progress made since the Good Friday Agreement.
At a UK level, the evidence speaks for itself: Brexit was a mistake of monumental proportions. All serious economic analysts have concluded that hard Brexit has resulted in tens of billions of pounds of lost economic output for the UK every year.
The Northern Ireland Protocol was designed to address the unique challenges Brexit created for Northern Ireland. By preserving alignment with certain EU regulations including the single market for goods, customs protocols,
and sanitary and phytosanitary standards—it enables frictionless trade across the island of Ireland. However, this alignment necessitates some checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain, including Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks which would be impossible to facilitate on land.
Having opposed virtually all other reasonable compromises, including a soft Brexit for the whole UK, the DUP’s collapse of the institutions in protest at the compromise was a wholly inappropriate response to a hard Brexit they had cheered on, delivered by Boris Johnson, who they had naively backed.
Notwithstanding the unacceptability of DUP policies, the SDLP always backed sensible improvements to the operation of the Protocol. Some of the reforms contained in the Windsor Framework of February 2023 were sensible and welcome, but others merely added more complexity and uncertainty.
One of the key elements of the agreement is the Democratic Consent Mechanism, which empowers the Northern Ireland Assembly to periodically vote on the continuation of Articles 5 to 10 of the agreement which seek to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland, while upholding the integrity of the EU’s single market.
This mechanism provided a degree of democratic accountability. The upcoming vote is expected to pass by a simple majority, and will therefore trigger an independent review of the Protocol/Windsor Framework—a critical moment to take stock of wider questions relating to Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit position.
To date, the post-Brexit debate has overwhelmingly focused on one economic aspect, smoothing the East-West movement of goods and one political aspect, placating a vocal and often unreasonable segment of unionism. This narrow approach ignored the broader opportunities and challenges Northern Ireland faces.
The independent review must take a comprehensive approach, moving beyond the debate on East-West trade to focus on broader issues such as enhancing democratic representation in EU structures, mitigating cross-border impacts, fully exploiting economic potential of dual market access, and advancing shared priorities like energy security, skills, technology and healthcare.
The SDLP is proud of our pro-European values, and strongly believes that one of the best arguments for a new Ireland is the prospect of re-joining the EU. Indeed, we believe that the European framework continues to provide the most effective framework for managing multiple identities, while pooling sovereignty for the common good.
Though we are working towards that aspiration in the coming years, including via our New Ireland Commission, our proposals in this paper are designed to protect and promote the interests of all our citizens, including those who do not share our aspiration to rejoin the EU.
Brexit has demonstrated the cost of retreating from cooperation and shared purpose. Northern Ireland’s unique geographic, economic and constitutional position presents an opportunity to strengthen our bonds with Europe, leverage dual market access, and ties across the island.
A review of the NI Protocol/Windsor Framework offers a platform to move beyond the acrimony of Brexit, fostering a new chapter of prosperity and inclusion for all communities living here. This report outlines what must be done to make this vision a reality. It makes the case that in looking beyond narrow grievances a wealth of opportunities are presented by our unique status. In harnessing them we can strengthen our economy, deepen our connections with Europe, while supporting a pathway to a shared future for the benefit of everyone, built on progress, inclusivity, and cooperation.