NI minister Edwin Poots says he has taken the decision to halt checks after receiving legal advice.
Image source, Reuters
Checks along the Irish Sea border were expected to cease on Thursday after Democratic Unionist Party minister Edwin Poots ordered them to stop.
The move is part of the DUP’s ongoing opposition to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Inspections on goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are part of the post-Brexit agreement.
Sinn Féin, the DUP’s power-sharing partners in Northern Ireland, criticised the move as a “stunt”.
Aside from staff from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera), which Mr Poots oversees, border posts also employ local authority environmental health staff.
It remains unclear what they will do in light of Mr Poots’ order, although pre-Brexit checks on livestock are expected to continue.
Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill, of Sinn Féin, said the move was an attempt by the DUP to “unlawfully interfere with domestic and international law”.
The protocol was agreed by the UK and EU to ensure free movement of trade across the Irish border after Brexit.
Under the deal, checks on goods from Great Britain must take place at Northern Ireland’s ports to make sure they comply with EU laws.
Unionist politicians have been critical of the arrangements, saying they are damaging Northern Ireland’s place in the UK.
Image source, Getty Images
Mr Poots said he directed his departmental officials to stop the checks after receiving legal advice, which meant he could direct the checks to stop in the absence of executive approval for them.
Under power-sharing arrangements, if the matter was put to the executive, it would need an agreed approach from both the first and deputy first minister if changes were to be made.
Sinn Féin has previously said it will block any attempt to halt border checks.
But Mr Poots believes the checks are unlawful and cannot continue without approval from the Stormont Executive.
Last week, his bid to force an executive rethink on the issue was blocked by Sinn Féin.
Mr Poots had sought executive support for the checks continuing, ahead of a legal challenge by loyalist blogger Jamie Bryson.
Image source, Charles McQuillan/Getty
He argued the challenge made clear that checks must be approved by all ministers as they are controversial and cut across various departments.
He said legal advice he had received on Wednesday confirmed that the implementation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) checks required approval from the Stormont Executive.
Mr Poots said that meant he was able to direct the checks to cease, and he had issued a formal instruction to his department’s permanent secretary to halt all checks not in place on 31 December 2020 as of midnight on Wednesday.
Daera said the minister had received “senior counsel advice and has issued an instruction on that basis”.
A spokesperson for Belfast City Council, which is responsible for making sure Belfast Port meets environmental health standards, said it would engage with elected representatives and statutory partners on Thursday “and assess the situation at that point”.
The BBC has also contacted the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs for a response.
The body which represents manufacturing businesses in Northern Ireland, Manufacturing NI, responded to the decision by saying it was advising its members to continue to enact the measures that they had been.
Regardless of events, the legal and administrative advice is that these are international obligations on traders and they should continue to meet those obligations whether or not there’s a guy with a hi-vis to greet them at the Port.
— Manufacturing NI (@ManufacturingNI)
BBC News NI’s economics & business editor John Campbell said it is as yet unclear what businesses will do.
Business leaders have previously told politicians that trading issues needed to be resolved as “a matter of priority”.
Political reaction
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected to speak to EU Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič again on Thursday.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said there was no orchestration between the government and DUP over Mr Poots’ move.
Speaking to ITV’s Robert Peston, he said he first found out about the move when Mr Poots announced it.
He said it was a “matter for the Northern Ireland Executive” and “within their legal remit”.
“We’ll be working through this over the next day or so,” he added.
Asked if he was happy for checks to be suspended, Mr Lewis said he wanted everybody involved “following and completing their work in line with international rules”.
Image source, Reuters
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney warned if the checks were halted, it would be “in breach of international law”.
Mr Coveney said the protocol was part of an international treaty.
“So, to deliberately frustrate obligations under that treaty, I think, would be a very serious matter indeed,” he said.
An EU diplomat told BBC News the move “won’t do the UK’s reputation any good” and questioned the legality of the decision.
Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill tweeted that the DUP were “fixated on their own priorities, which are clearly at odds with where the wider community is at”.
Sinn Féin maintains that Stormont has a legal obligation to enforce the checks, and that the executive agreed in May 2020 to designate Mr Poots’ department to perform the controls.
The Alliance Party’s John Blair said it was “not a time for causing further disruption”.
‘Outrageous’
“The minister knows the solutions won’t be found in the assembly or the department – it’s a matter for the joint UK-EU committee,” he said.
He added that the Alliance Party would consider “very carefully” how the matter progresses in the coming days before deciding whether the decision should be challenged in court.
Matthew O’Toole, the SDLP’s Brexit spokesperson said the order given by Edwin Poots to civil servants was “outrageous” and that the general public was more concerned with other matters.
“The pretence that this is the biggest issue facing political leaders is a scandalous lie,” he said.
“It will not command the support of the Assembly or the Executive and it will be challenged.”
The move was welcomed by Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister, who said the protocol implementation was “never compatible” with Northern Ireland’s position within the UK.
“The fundamental question though remains, why did it take a year to do this – a year which included excuses and justifications for the very checks Minister Poots now abandons,” he said.