I am mega confused about this Northern Ireland thing. In December, the joint UK/EU report stated;
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In the absence of agreed solutions, the United Kingdom will maintain full alignment with those rules of the Internal Market and the Customs Union which, now or in the future, support North-South cooperation, the all island economy and the protection of the 1998 Agreement.
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(
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/site...int_report.pdf paragraph 49)
Then the EU draft paper which is designed to formalise the agreement made in December says;
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A common regulatory area comprising the Union and the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland is hereby established. The common regulatory area shall constitute an area without internal borders in which the free movement of goods is ensured and North-South cooperation protected in accordance with this Chapter.
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They seem to be saying more or less the same thing.
I think the government needs to set out what it means by 'regulatory alignment' to support an 'all Ireland economy'. I am looking forward to tomorrow when hopefully the Prime Minister will clarify this.