Furious Stormont exchanges over Brexit

STORMONT ministers clashed over Irish Sea port checks during robust exchanges yesterday.

Sinn Fein Finance Minister Conor Murphy said: “It is time the DUP was honest with the public and accepted that the Executive is legally obliged to comply with the commitments set out in the Withdrawal Agreement and the protocol, both of which now form part of the law.”

DUP Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons addressed the Stormont Assembly after the meeting of Stormont ministers.

He said: “It is so, so important that we get an alternative to the protocol.

“No amount of tinkering with it is going to make it work – it needs to go.”

DUP First Minister Arlene Foster has insisted the decision of her party colleague, Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons, to stop work on permanent Irish Sea trade inspection facilities can only be overturned by a court.

Mrs Foster rejected the suggestion that Mr Lyons could be overruled by the wider Stormont Executive on the issue.

“Gordon has taken the decision based on evidence and law that he has looked at and the decision still stands until it is overturned by a court,” she said.