Northern Ireland Brexit deal in peril after border checks scrapped

The move casts the sustainability of the Northern Ireland protocol into serious doubt (Picture: Getty/PA)

A day after the government celebrated the two-year anniversary of Brexit, the Northern Ireland protocol is at risk of unraveling.

The unionist agriculture minister has unilaterally said he will halt border checks, casting the fragile agreement into doubt.

Stormont is bitterly divided on the arrangements, which are designed to allow Northern Ireland to leave the EU without undermining the Good Friday Agreement.

The deal keeps Northern Ireland in the single market for goods, meaning border checks can be avoided for products coming and going from the Republic of Ireland.

But the controversial mechanism means checks have to be carried out on some goods going from the mainland into Northern Ireland, which unionists say creates a border in the Irish sea.

After months of attempts to renegotiate the deal by Boris Johnson’s government, deadlock in Northern Ireland and bitter protests, Edwin Poots, the DUP agriculture minister, has unilaterally scrapped the checks.

It’s unclear if the civil service will comply with his order but the move will give Downing Street a major headache.

DUP rivals at Stormont insist the civil service has a duty to comply with Stormont’s legal obligations to carry out the checks under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

The unionist agriculture minister has cancelled checks but it’s unclear if the controversial move will be implemented by civil servants (Picture: PA)

Buses have been commandeered and set alight by unionist hardliners who want the deal torn up (Picture: AP)

Mr Poots said legal advice he had sought on the issue supported his view that he was entitled to stop the checks.

The move comes after he last week failed to secure the wider approval of the Stormont Executive to continue checks on agri-food produce arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

A long-running row over who is legally obliged to implement the terms of the deal has split Northern Irish politics down the middle.

The minister argues that in the absence of Executive approval he no longer has legal cover to continue the documentary checks and physical inspections.

His bid to seek a ministerial vote at the Executive last week was branded a stunt by other parties.

Unionist and republicans are deeply divided on the protocol, with the latter favouring maintaining it to keep closer trading ties with the Republic (Picture: Getty)

Mr Poots announced the move to halt the checks at Stormont on Wednesday evening, saying he had ‘taken legal advice in relation to my position’.

He added: ‘I have now issued a formal instruction to my permanent secretary to halt all checks that were not in place on December 31 2020 from midnight tonight.’

The Westminster government has not responded but will come under pressure to explain how the impasse will be averted.

Ministers have previously threatened to invoke Article 16, which would suspend the agreement, if the EU declines to renegotiate elements of it.

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