“No self-respecting country with a future can allow itself to be treated in this way” says Dan Boucher and Claire Bullivant.
The Labour Government is facing criticism over new legislation introducing “Not for EU” labelling requirements, with stakeholders warning of inadequate consultation, potential supply chain disruption, and a lack of transparency.
The Marking of Retail Goods Regulations 2025 were laid before Parliament in early June and are due to become law on 1 July, less than a month after being published.
What is the significance of this legislation?
On 1 July we encounter the next stage in the construction of the Irish Sea border in the partitioning of the UK.
Although businesses in Great Britain have been required by the EU to place ‘Not for EU’ labels on some food products when retailing in Northern Ireland for more than a year, the number of products that must carry these labels is set to increase significantly.
In this context, the UK Government has acknowledged in publishing these regulations that, despite its commitment to fully and faithfully implement the Windsor Framework, implementation on 1 July will threaten Northern Ireland’s supply chains.
Paragraph 5.11 of the Government’s explanatory memo on the regulations boldly states:
“A much greater range of products will be brought into scope of labelling requirements in July 2025, increasing the potential risk of product delisting. Therefore, the government requires a means of intervention to manage this risk and deter businesses from delisting products…”
The problem is that the solution they have proposed is essentially the same one they consulted on last year, and which businesses firmly rejected.
In 2024, the Government proposed addressing the supply chain threat posed by the Not for EU labels by requiring GB companies, which will have to apply many more Not for EU labels from 1 July 2025, to also place these labels on the same products when sold in GB. This, they argued, would remove any incentive to cease trading with Northern Ireland.
The adjustment made to this rejected proposal is to say that rather than imposing labelling requirements on all relevant products, the Government will now only require “Not for EU” labels on specific products if it appears that GB companies are withdrawing from the Northern Ireland market, or have already done so.
Paragraph 6.5 makes it clear, however, that by the time the Government intervenes, supply chain breakdown may already have occurred:
“This approach also enables the Secretary of State to take swift action to prevent or reverse product delisting from the Northern Ireland market. It is for these reasons, as is explained further in paragraph 11.2, that we concluded that there was no viable alternative approach to changing the law.”
The only positive aspect of this legislation is the clarity it brings: when the next stage in the implementation of the Windsor Framework takes effect on 1 July, it is going to make things worse, not better.
UK citizens living in Northern Ireland will not only have to bear the indignity of being disenfranchised in 300 areas of law but also the hardship of living with regular supply chain breakdowns.
No self-respecting country with a future can allow itself to be treated in this way.
The truth is that no part of the UK should be subject to “Not for EU” labelling. Such labels should not be required on goods made in Great Britain and sold either in Northern Ireland or in Great Britain itself. These labels stand as further proof that we have not yet properly left the EU, and that our United Kingdom has been partitioned by a botched Brexit—one we must work tirelessly to secure.
By Dan Boucher and Claire Bullivant
Reminder that it was the Conservatives that signed the deal with the DUP they included the Not for EU labelling to be UK wide in order to hey the DUP to return to the Northern Ireland Assembly who were [rightly] protesting the damage to the Union caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol.