Lewis: UK will not get involved in halting Brexit agri-food checks

ITV News Correspondent Peter Smith explains the implications of the DUP's move

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has said he would not get involved in orders to halt Brexit-agri food checks.

It comes as Stormont's Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots ordered a halt to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports required under the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Speaking on ITV's Peston programme, Brandon Lewis said,

"Obviously this is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive, it is something that is within their legal remit, obviously we will be looking at the outworkings has taken, exactly what the legal advice is that Edwin has taken, but one of the frustrations is, this I have to say is something we've been saying to the European Union for some time, was the kind of thing that we could see happening.

"It's exactly the sort of thing that we have been warning about in terms of the stability of the executive and the decisions the Executive ministers will take in order to make sure that products can move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in a way that they always have done."

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has said the decision to halt Northern Ireland Protocol checks would be a “breach of international law”.

The agriculture minister said he sought legal advice on if he could unilaterally halt Brexit checks at Northern Ireland ports.

Mr Poots sought the legal advice after a failed bid to secure the wider approval of the Stormont Executive to continue checks on agri-food produce arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

The minister said that in the absence of Executive approval he no longer had legal cover to continue the documentary checks and physical inspections.

ITV News Politics Editor Robert Peston explains where this sudden development leaves Northern Ireland

Speaking in the upper house of the Irish parliament, Mr Coveney said:

“If a political decision is taken by a minister in Northern Ireland to stop all checks in ports on goods coming across the Irish Sea, coming into Northern Ireland, that is effectively a breach of international law.

“And I would remind everybody that the protocol is part of an international agreement.

“It was agreed and ratified by the UK and the EU. And its implementation is not only part of an international treaty, but it is part of international law.

“And so to deliberately frustrate obligations under that treaty I think would be a very serious matter indeed.

“It’s essentially playing politics with legal obligations. And I certainly hope that it doesn’t happen, as has been threatened.”

Mr Poots' move to seek a ministerial vote at the Executive last week was branded a stunt by other parties.

They insist the Executive has already agreed that Mr Poots’ department has responsibility for carrying out the checks and he does not have the authority to halt processes that are required under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, an international treaty.

Claiming recent court rulings have clarified that such authority is required, Mr Poots tried to secure the approval of the Executive by asking for the matter to be considered at last Thursday’s meeting.

He did so in the knowledge that if the issue was elevated to the Executive, his party could at that point exercise a veto to block approval for the checks.

Realising that, Sinn Fein used its own veto to prevent the issue from getting on the agenda.

Mr Poots said he would make a decision on whether to halt the checks once he considers the opinion of the senior counsel.

The DUP has repeatedly threatened to withdraw ministers from the Stormont Executive if major changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol are not secured.

Such a move would prevent the administration from functioning properly and would remove its power to take significant decisions.