Article 16 of NI Protocol will not be triggered, for now - Brandon Lewis

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, MP has said whilst the UK government believes the effects of the Northern Ireland Protocol on Northern Ireland society would justify triggering Article 16, now was not the time to do so.
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Secretary of State, Lewis, said the UK wants to strike a “new balance” on Northern Ireland with the European Union.

He told peers: “Instead we see an opportunity to proceed differently, to find a new path, to seek to agree with the EU through negotiations a new balance in our arrangements covering Northern Ireland to the benefit of all.”

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Mr Lewis said the burdens imposed by the Northern Ireland Protocol “have been a source of considerable and ongoing disruption to lives and livelihoods”.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, MP.Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, MP.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, MP.

“We have seen reductions in supermarket product lines, we have seen 200 suppliers decide they would no longer sell to Northern Ireland.

“We have seen difficulties not just on the famous chilled meats issue but on medicines, on pets, on movements of live animals, on seeds, on plants and on many others.”

DUP leader. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, welcomed the announcement and said he was happy to hear the government had accepted the Northern Ireland Protocol was no longer working.

More to follow.

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