N.Ireland first minister may quit as EU warns Britain over Brexit checks
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[February 03, 2022]
By Ian Graham
BELFAST (Reuters) -Northern Ireland's first
minister intends to resign later on Thursday in protest at post-Brexit
trade rules, the BBC reported as the European Union warned Britain that
it would breach international law if it lets Belfast halt some checks on
goods.
Tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, signed as part of Britain's
exit from the EU, flared again on Wednesday when the British province's
Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots ordered an immediate halt to checks on
agri-food goods coming into the region from the rest of the United
Kingdom.
Poots' pro-British Democratic Unionist Party has for months also
threatened to pull down the regional government ahead of an election in
May over its vehement opposition to the protocol, which the DUP believes
drives a wedge between the region and the rest of the UK across the
Irish Sea.
The protocol kept Northern Ireland in the EU's customs union for goods
in order to preserve a politically sensitive open border with EU member
state Ireland. In so doing, though, it created an effective border in
the Irish Sea, angering pro-British, pro-Brexit unionists and prompting
the British government to seek to rewrite the deal it signed up to in
2019.
The BBC reported that First Minister Paul Givan would make a resignation
announcement later on Thursday, though he may not stand down until next
week.
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Asked about the report, Poots told the BBC: "I think you'll just have to
wait and see what happens during today, if that happens or not." A
spokesperson for the DUP could not immediately be reached for comment.
If Givan quits, it will trigger the resignation of Deputy First Minister
Michelle O'Neill of the DUP's Irish nationalist and pro-EU rivals Sinn
Fein. This would paralyse decision-making in the region where the main
parties share power under a 1998 peace deal that ended three decades of
sectarian violence.
Matthew O'Toole of the smaller Irish nationalist SDLP party said the DUP
were behaving like "reckless infants".
Givan's resignation would not necessarily lead to early elections, which
opinion polls suggest will see Sinn Fein pass the DUP to become Northern
Ireland's largest party for the first time.
The DUP have lost support to other unionist groups over the protocol.
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![](../images/020322pics/news_z85.jpg)
Edwin Poots arrives at the DUP ruling executive meeting to ratify
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader designate Sir Jeffrey
Donaldson as party leader, in Belfast, Northern Ireland June 30,
2021. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Feb/03/images/ads/current/farmersbank_lda_LUAL_2021.png)
CHECKS NOT HALTED YET
Poots also told the BBC that his officials had "I's to dot and T's to
cross" before halting the checks and that this would take a matter of
days. Trade bodies reported on Thursday that goods were still being
inspected at Northern Irish ports.
In London, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that
government wanted Northern Ireland's devolved executive to resolve the
issue in the first instance, but that it was keeping the legal position
under review.
Ireland's foreign minister said London has an obligation to comply with
international law, a view echoed by EU Financial Services Commissioner
Mairead McGuinness.
"It's an absolute breach of international law," McGuinness, Ireland's
representative on the executive European Commission, told national
broadcaster RTE.
A spokesman for the Commission added that Poots' decision was unhelpful,
created further uncertainty for Northern Irish business and that London
had a responsibility to respect the international obligations it had
entered into under Brexit.
The European commissioner dealing with the protocol, Maros Sefcovic, is
due to speak to British Foreign Secretary and Brexit negotiator Liz
Truss later on Thursday.
Sefcovic has said the EU wants to reach agreement with Britain on
getting rid of some of the checks by the end of February before
campaigning begins for the Northern Irish elections.
The two sides have been seeking to resolve the impasse for months.
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels and Elizabeth
Piper in London, writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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