NI Protocol: Brandon Lewis says it is right Irish Sea Border checks continue

IRISH SEA Border checks entering *orthern Ireland from Great Britain flow from the NI Protocol. Irish Sea Border checks are a legal requirement and it is right they are continuing, *orthern Ireland Secretary of State Brandon Lewis has told MPs. 

        Sea border checks at Belfast Port

           IMAGE SOURCE, PACEMAKER

By John Campbell

28th March, 2022. 

It is the deal between the UK and EU which keeps *orthern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods. 

The UK is seeking major changes to the Protocol which would reduce the number of checks. 

In February *orthern Ireland’s Agricultural Minister Edwin Poots, of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) ordered his officials to stop checks. 

However they have continued and the High Court ruled they must continue, pending the outcome of legal challenges.

Under Section 26 of the *orthern Ireland Act, the *orthern Ireland Secretary can override a *orthern Ireland minister if they take a decision which would be incompatible with any of the UK's international obligations. 

Mr Lewis said he did not want to use that power. 

"I've shown fairly strongly that I will resist using Section 26 and try and find other ways to do things in partnership whenever we possibly can," he told the *orthern Ireland Affairs Committee. 

Mr Lewis repeated the government's view that the Protocol was not sustainable in its current form and that EU proposals for its reform needed to go much further. 

Map of the UK showing how goods travelling from GB into NI and onward to the Republic of Ireland. 

He was pressed on when the government might trigger Article 16 of the Protocol. 

It is the provision which allows parts of the Protocol to be unilaterally suspended if they are causing serious difficulties. 

In July 2021, the UK government said that, in its opinion, the threshold had been reached for using Article 16, but it was choosing not to use it for now.

Mr Lewis did not give any deadline for when the UK would use Article 16. 

He said the UK would "strain every last sinew" to reach agreement with the EU. 

He also noted that Article 16 would not 'scrap the Protocol and would begin another process. 

With many thanks thanks to: BBC News NI John Campbell Economics and Business Editor for the original posting.