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New investment in N.I

 A total of 170 jobs will be created in Northern Ireland by one of the world’s biggest packaging companies, the latest business seeking to exploit the region’s “best of both worlds” post-Brexit trading status. Ardagh Metal Packaging yesterday announced plans to build a $200m beverage can plant near Belfast, from which drinks will be exported both to Britain and EU markets.

Luxembourg-based Ardagh, which has origins in glassmaking in Dublin, said its “state of the art” plant would service “the growing needs of AMP’s beverage customers in Ireland, the UK and Europe”. 

Last year, Michael Gove, secretary of state for levelling up, said businesses in Northern Ireland would get “the best of both worlds” under the protocol, and many employers want the Brexit arrangement to continue. 

Oliver Graham, chief executive of AMP, said: “We are delighted to be investing in Northern Ireland, supporting our clients’ sustainability needs and further reducing our carbon footprint by locating closer to our end customers.” 

Almac, based in Craigavon, sang the praises of the protocol, telling its customers the post-Brexit deal offered “unique, unfettered and flexible access to the UK, Europe and beyond”. 

    “Our exporters are having the time of their lives at the moment,” said Stephen Kelly, chief executive of Manufacturing NI, a lobby group. 

Not all businesses were as effusive about the protocol being a win-win for Northern Irish companies, with many filled with dread at the prospect of yet more disruption and uncertainty if Article 16 was triggered. 

Ardagh’s investment came days after Northern Irish pharmaceuticals group Almac announced it was creating 1,000 jobs in the region over the next three years as part of a global expansion. 

Lord David Frost, UK Brexit minister, has claimed the deal imposes excessive checks on goods moved from Great Britain across the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland and has threatened to activate the Article 16 override mechanism in the treaty. 

Relatively low labour costs in the region were another factor in the company’s choice of location. Although businesses in the area widely support the arrangement, the British government threatens to suspend parts of the protocol as talks with the EU continue. The investment is one of the most significant greenfield projects in the region since Brexit took effect and will be seen as a vote of confidence in the controversial Northern Ireland protocol. The 2019 protocol gives Northern Ireland free access to the broader UK market while leaving it within the EU’s single market for goods. People close to the deal said the factory would create 170 high-quality jobs, including technicians and engineers.

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