“The Prime Minister should not squander the need for a trade deal with the US on the altar of his obeisance to the EU. Instead, he should restore full sovereignty over the whole UK and then do a deal with USA for the whole UK.”
Jim Allister KC MP has delivered a well-founded and sharply articulated critique of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, accusing him of neglecting to address Northern Ireland’s continued subjection to EU law and the resulting risks to a potential UK-US trade deal.
Mr Allister has raised concerns about how the government intends to pursue a trade deal with the United States, given President Trump’s well-documented opposition to the European Union, while Northern Ireland remains bound by EU regulations, including trade laws. He pointedly noted that the Prime Minister did not deny this fact, nor did he provide a direct answer.
Instead, Sir Keir referenced Mutual Enforcement—a proposal tied to Mr Allister’s Bill—which aims to apply a soft border along the international boundary, thus liberating Northern Ireland from EU law. Mr Allister quite rightly pointed out that Mutual Enforcement negates the need for hard border infrastructure, calling Starmer’s claim that it could lead to a hard border “ludicrous” and “patent nonsense.”
A Partitioned UK and Missed Opportunities
Mr Allister further criticised the EU-imposed Irish Sea border, which partitions the United Kingdom and hinders its ability to negotiate as a unified entity on the global stage. He called on the Prime Minister to dismantle the existing sea border and fully restore UK sovereignty.
Highlighting the economic stakes, Mr Allister pointed to the critical importance of US-UK trade:
- The United States accounted for 17.6% of total UK trade in the year to Q2 2024.
- Exports to the US reached £188.2 billion, with imports at £116.1 billion.
- The US remains the UK’s largest trading partner and a key source of foreign direct investment, with £702.5 billion in inward FDI from the US in 2022.
Call to Action
Mr Allister has urged the Prime Minister not to sacrifice a vital trade deal with the United States to maintain alignment with the EU. “The PM should not squander the need for a trade deal with the US on the altar of his obeisance to the EU,” he stated, calling for the government to restore full sovereignty across the United Kingdom and prioritise a comprehensive trade agreement with the US.
Read the Full Response by Jim Allister KC MP to Prime Minister Keir Starmer:
In my question to the Prime Minister in Parliament today, I asked how he proposes to pursue a trade deal with the United States of America, given the antipathy of President Trump for the EU, when part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, remains subject to EU law, including EU trade law.
The Prime Minister’s response did not deny that Northern Ireland continues to be subject to EU law, including EU trade law, and so he did not answer my question.
The Prime Minister then went on, from a prepared script, to mention Mutual Enforcement and my Bill, which is relevant to my question because Mutual Enforcement provides a robust means of applying a soft border along the actual international border, and so would liberate Northern Ireland from EU law and put the United Kingdom in a position where we can negotiate a trade deal with the US.
Instead of engaging with that point, however, the Prime Minister made the ludicrous assertion that he was concerned that Mutual Enforcement would result in hard border. This is patent nonsense, because the nature of Mutual Enforcement is such that, by definition, it could not result in a hard border because it does not require any border infrastructure.
Of course, we do have a hard border and it is the EU border in the Irish Sea which partitions our United Kingdom and which the PM sustains. If he’s worried about hard borders, then let him start dismantling the one that exists!
In reflecting upon this we should be mindful not just of the significant economic benefit arising from negotiating a trade deal with the United States but also of the serious costs of not doing so:
The United States was the UK’s largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2024 accounting for 17.6% of total UK trade
• Total UK exports to United States amounted to £188.2 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2024;
• Total UK imports from United States amounted to £116.1 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2024;
In 2022, the outward stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) from the UK in United States was £511.5 billion accounting for 26.9% of the total UK outward FDI stock.
In 2022, the inward stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the UK from United States was £702.5 billion accounting for 34.0% of the total UK inward FDI stock.
So, the PM should not squander the need for a trade deal with the US on the alter of his obeisance to the EU. Instead, he should restore full sovereignty over the whole UK and then do a deal with USA for the whole UK.
Jim Allister KC MP
Donald Trump moves into the White House on Monday- He likes to do trade deals and offered Theresa May a trade deal but she refused because we were still tied to the EU.