UK-EU talks aim to defuse Brexit tensions over N Ireland

LONDON—Senior politicians from Britain, Northern Ireland and the European Union held inconclusive talks Wednesday in a bid to ease post- Brexit trade tensions that have shaken Northern Ireland's delicate political balance.

British Cabinet minister Michael Gove, European Commission Vice President Mar os Sef co vic and the leaders of Northern Ireland' s CatholicProtestant power-sharing government held a video conference to discuss problems that have erupted barely a month after t he U. K. made an economic split from the 27- nation EU. Sefcovic is expected to travel to London next week for more talks.

Northern Ireland authorities halted veterinary checks and withdrew border staff this week from Belfast and Larne ports after threatening graffiti appeared referring to port workers as targets, and staff reported seeing people writing down vehicle license plate numbers.

The border check son goods entering Northern Ireland from there st of the U.K. are a contentious product of Brexit.

Since the U. K. left the European Union' s economic structures at the end of 2020, customs and veterinary checks have been imposed on goods moving between Britain and the bloc — and on some British goods going to Northern Ireland, because it shares a border with EU member Ireland.

The checks are strongly opposed by pro-British Unionist politicians, who say they drive a wedge between Northern Ireland and there st of the U. K. They are calling on the British government to rip up a section of its divorce agreement with the EU known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, which gives the region a separate trade status to the rest of the U.K.