PM threatens to axe ‘absurd’ EU checks on Irish Sea trade

BORIS Johnson has renewed his threat to rip up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol if the EU refuses to ease post-Brexit trade checks.

He warned he could trigger the nuclear option and suspend Article 16 of the arrangement if Brussels fails to back down.

The Prime Minister said his Government was working on “sandpapering” the Protocol, which governs Irish Sea trade post-Brexit, to address some of the concerns about trade disruption.

In an interview with BBC NI’s Spotlight programme, Mr Johnson said: “If we can’t make enough progress and if it looks as though the EU is going to be very, very dogmatic about it, and we continue to have absurd situations so you can’t bring in rose bushes with British soil into Northern Ireland, you can’t bring British sausages into Northern Ireland, then frankly I’m going to...we’ll have to take further steps.

What we’re doing is removing the unnecessary protuberances and barriers that have grown up and we’re getting the barnacles off the thing and sandpapering it into shape.”

The Prime Minister was also questioned on the potential of a future poll on Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.

He said he could not envisage such a vote for “a very, very long time to come”.

The programme also interviewed Irish premier Micheál Martin, who insisted the Protocol “is not tearing the UK apart, that’s just an overly dramatic presentation of it in our view”.

The trading arrangements have been cited as a factor behind the recent upsurge of violence in loyalist areas in Northern Ireland.

Loyalists believe the new economic barriers between the region and Great Britain have weakened their place in the UK.

The Protocol requires a range of new regulatory checks on agri-food goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK. Some goods are banned.

Commercial goods also need to undergo various customs processes.

The Protocol has yet to be fully implemented with various exemptions on checks currently in place.

The EU has taken legal action against the UK for its decision to unilaterally extend some of those grace periods as talks continue between the two sides on ways to ease the red tape.

Downing Street said there were “outstanding issues” with the Protocol that were being hammered out by Brexit Minister Lord Frost.

The PM’s spokesman said of suspending Article 16: “We don’t rule it out categorically.”