British steel will incur 25 per cent EU tariff if sold in Northern Ireland as officials rule producers WILL have to pay to send goods within the UK

• British steel makers to pay 25% EU tariff to sell products in Northern Ireland
• EU steel producers will be able to continue exporting goods tariff-free in the UK 
• Former Brexit minister David Jones said it shows damage caused by NI Protocol 

Gareth Stace, director-general of UK Steel, described the move as ‘beyond farcical’

British steel makers will have to pay a 25 per cent EU tariff to sell some products in Northern Ireland, it emerged yesterday.

In a politically-sensitive move, HM Revenue & Customs announced that British producers and stockholders will have to pay to send steel within the UK’s internal market.

Yet EU steel producers will be able to continue exporting goods tariff-free throughout the UK, according to UK Steel, the industry trade association.

Gareth Stace, director-general of UK Steel, told the Financial Times: ‘It is beyond farcical that UK producers are now prevented by these tariffs from selling goods to customers in their own country.’

He added: ‘To add insult to injury EU steel producers can continue to export these goods tariff free throughout the UK, but we can no longer do so in the opposite direction.’

Tory former Brexit minister David Jones said the move was the ‘clearest possible proof that the integrity of the internal UK market is being damaged by the Northern Ireland Protocol’.

‘We cannot put up with the ludicrous state of affairs whereby sales of goods from one part of our country to another are subject to penal tariffs,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘The Government was absolutely right to introduce the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to address the issue and the House of Commons was also right to pass it unamended before recess.

‘The House of Lords must now do its bit and make sure that the Bill becomes law as quickly as possible.’

Unionists have repeatedly expressed concern over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which creates what they regard as a border in the Irish Sea.

Under the terms of the deal, all goods travelling from Great Britain must pay EU tariffs if they are at risk of crossing into the Republic of Ireland and EU single market.

A temporary workaround was in place to give British companies a specific quota for exporting into the province, but in July Brussels decided to lump together national quotas.

It meant Britain’s share was opened up to other countries, according to UK Steel.

The Government is bringing forward legislation to override the Protocol, and Tory leadership frontrunner Liz Truss has vowed she will not back down on UK demands to improve the deal.

The British Steel Ltd steelworks in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. British steel makers will have to pay a 25 per cent EU tariff to sell some products in Northern Ireland

Though she warned last week that the legislation could ‘take time’ to clear Parliament.

A government spokesman said: ‘This is another example of how the Northern Ireland Protocol is needlessly damaging trade within the UK, harming businesses in Northern Ireland, and demonstrates why it needs to be urgently fixed.

‘We are in constant contact with industry representatives on practical solutions to this issue but a long term solution requires changes to the Protocol.’

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