North Antrim TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said:
“Last week Stormont debated the Spring Supplementary Estimates. Contained within the Department for the Economy allocations was a resource spend for InterTradeIreland of £6.429 million. There wasn’t a penny within the estimates or the budget for Intertrade UK. “Back in October, the Minister for the Economy told me that the budget for InterTradeIreland had increased by £1,841,000 since the introduction of the Protocol and three additional staff had been taken on.
“InterTrade Ireland have permanent offices in Newry. I currently have questions down about the total number of staff they employ. The most recent annual report on their website (2022) shows that at that time they employed over 50 staff.
“As I pointed out during the debate on the estimates, there isn’t a penny coming from Stormont for InterTrade UK.
“It is important to remember that the idea of InterTrade UK originated with TUV. We never believed that it would be a substitute for getting rid of the Protocol but we did propose it as a body which could promote trade across the UK. We even produced a policy paper in January 2021 in which we made it clear that InterTrade UK would require as a minimum staff and resources akin to InterTrade Ireland.
“While the existence of the body is welcome and there have been some good appointments, unless or until InterTrade UK has a statutory basis, a budget in the millions of pounds, offices and full time staff its ability to deliver will be a mere drop in the ocean compared to its all-Ireland counterpart.”