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

Irish Sea border checks are a legal requirement and it is right they are continuing, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has told MPs.

The checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain flow from the NI Protocol.

It is the deal between the UK and EU which keeps Northern 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 Northern Ireland's Agriculture 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.

Mr Lewis was asked if he would use his legal powers to continue the checks if that was required.

Under Section 26 of the Northern Ireland Act, the Northern Ireland secretary can override a Northern 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 wherever we possibly can," he told the Northern 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.

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.