Britain’s new border bust-up with Brussels

Anger over extension of Irish Sea ‘grace period’

A FURIOUS row with Brussels erupted last night over a UK move to block red tape on food exports from Great Britain to Northern Ireland until October.

British ministers said they would waive customs paperwork beyond an agreed April 1 deadline with the EU.

The UK has been in talks with the European Commission to extend so-called ‘grace periods’ for supermarket goods, chilled meats, medicines and parcels until January 2023. Downing Street wants more time to find permanent solutions to the problems being experienced by firms at the border in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said Britain was ‘taking several temporary operational steps to avoid disruptive cliff edges as engagement with the EU continues’. But a commission spokesman said ‘unilateral moves’ were not permitted under the terms of the Brexit deal’s Northern Ireland protocol.

Lord Frost, who is in charge of forging the UK’s new relationship with the EU, was set to hold talks last night with Maros Sefcovic, the Eurocrat in charge of policing the Brexit deal. But in a statement, Mr Sefcovic accused the UK of acting illegally, adding: ‘This also constitutes a clear departure from the constructive approach that has prevailed up until now.’

Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said the Government’s unilateral move was ‘deeply unhelpful’.

Sinn Fein’s Northern Ireland leader Michelle O’Neill added: ‘This appears to be another unilateral attempt to override what has been agreed.’ Brussels and Britain clashed late last year over the UK Internal Market Bill, which would have allowed British ministers unilaterally to ignore parts of the Withdrawal Agreement.

But a senior UK source accused Eurocrats of ‘hypocrisy’ after Brussels earlier tried to block coronavirus jabs reaching the British mainland from Northern Ireland.

‘It’s a bit rich coming from the EU, who tried to trigger Article 16 of the protocol just over a month ago,’ the source said. ‘We are actually listening to people on the ground, something they have failed to do.’

Northern Ireland has remained inside the EU’s single market for goods so products arriving from the British mainland undergo EU import procedures. Unionists are angry at the policy, which has caused major disruption to trade across the Irish Sea.