A High Court judge in Northern Ireland has suspended an order from a unionist minister to end port checks required under the UK–EU agreement on post-Brexit trade.
Northern Ireland’s Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots, a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), issued a unilateral direction on Feb. 2, instructing his officials to stop the agri-food checks on goods arriving from mainland Britain.
This was part of the DUP’s escalating protest strategy against the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit treaty, which has created economic barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness said on Feb. 3 that the decision is an “absolute breach of international law.”
The port checks have been continuing, as civil servants have not implemented the minister’s instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations.
Justice Colton, a High Court judge in Belfast, said on Feb. 4 that he had issued an interim order to suspend the decision until a judicial review against the DUP minister’s decision can be heard in full.
Justice Colton granted leave for applications for judicial reviews against the minister’s decision, which has been challenged in two separate applications in the High Court.
He said the “interim relief” is needed as “there shouldn’t be any confusion hanging over those in the civil service.”
Unionist discontent over the Northern Ireland Protocol has plunged the British province into a political crisis, after DUP First Minister Paul Givan resigned on Feb. 3, paralysing the Northern Ireland Executive.
A fully functioning administration in Northern Ireland can only be formed if the positions of first and deputy first ministers are filled by the largest unionist and largest nationalist parties.
Therefore, Givan’s resignation automatically removed Sinn Fein deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill from her position.
Other Stormont ministers can remain in post but the Executive can no longer meet and is unable to take significant policy decisions.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said on Feb. 4 that he had withdrawn the first minister because “the protocol issues have not been addressed despite clear commitments and promises given by the prime minister that they would be addressed.”
He told BBC Radio Ulster that it would be difficult for his party to return to the executive if issues related to the Northern Ireland Protocol are not resolved.
Donaldson said “there is now an opportunity” for the UK government and the EU to “step up to the mark and to deliver an agreement that resolves these issues that can be done quickly.”
Sinn Fein has denounced the DUP’s move as an electoral stunt designed to consolidate DUP support in the face of recent poor opinion poll performances.
Party president Mary Lou McDonald branded the DUP tactics a “disgrace” and called for Assembly election, currently scheduled for May, to be brought forward.
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