What’s the ‘Windsor Framework’ for Northern Ireland?

After the UK left the European Union in 2020, the status of Northern Ireland became a bone of contention. Britain’s government complained that the post-Brexit trading arrangement for the region, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, was stifling the local economy. It threatened to impose its own solution, until a deal known as the “Windsor Framework” was struck on Feb. 27 to replace the most contentious aspects of the protocol. The agreement, which still needs formal approval on both sides, has the potential to transform Britain’s uneasy relationship with its most important trading partner.

It’s a solution to allow Northern Ireland to remain within the EU’s single market and customs union while rolling back many of the cumbersome checks imposed on goods arriving from mainland Britain under the original Brexit deal. The UK government had complained that the burden of new paperwork was disrupting trade and effectively created an internal border within a sovereign country. The new framework includes a “green” and “red” lane system that will separate goods traveling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland from those continuing into the EU. Those not destined for the bloc will be subject to lighter border controls.