Brexit: Edwin Poots calls for apology over NI Protocol

Mr Poots accepted he had returned as "bullish as ever"

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has called on those who backed the Northern Ireland Protocol to apologise to the people of Northern Ireland.

Mr Poots was appearing at a Stormont scrutiny committee for the first time since his return after cancer treatment.

He told MLAs that "rigorous implementation" could "wreck" the economy and hike consumer prices.

The Northern Ireland Protocol came into force on 1 January 2021.

Sinn Fein MLA Philip McGuigan said that all the issues flowed from a hard Brexit, which the minister and his party had supported.

In good-humoured exchanges, Mr Poots accepted that he had returned as "bullish as ever".

"They didn't take that out when they removed the kidney," he said.

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Mr Poots said what was being expected under the protocol was "irrational, oppressive, burdensome and frankly ridiculous".

He said Northern Ireland would co-operate with the European Union to protect its single market, but things had gone too far.

"What in the name of goodness has that got to do with a pizza ending up on a table in Belfast?," he said.

Mr Poots said an extension to the grace period only "kicks the can down the road"

Mr Poots said up to 400 staff might be required if full checks had to be applied at the end of various grace periods.

He said he did not know where they would come from when there was already a shortage.

And he said being forced to withdraw vets from slaughterhouses to inspect paperwork on food which had already been checked elsewhere was "ridiculous".

He welcomed the unilateral extension of grace periods on Brexit paperwork announced by the UK government but said that only "kicks the can down the road".

Football

Mr Poots later acknowledged the advantage of the protocol in terms of providing access to EU markets.

Committee chair Declan McAleer welcomed the acknowledgment.

The minister said he had never been shy about that but used a footballing analogy.

He said in a game you might score a "wonder goal and that's the protocol" but still get "hammered 6-1".

The committee also heard that while a veterinary agreement could eliminate many of the issues in respect of Irish Sea border checks, it had not been raised at technical meetings of senior veterinary staff at UK/EU level.