Brexit battle looms as heated border row on brink of explosion – EU issued new ultimatum

A MAJOR Brexit battle is at risk of breaking out over Northern Ireland if the EU fails to reach an agreement with the UK over the Protocol.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said a resolution over changing the post-Brexit trading arrangements in the region was urgently needed within weeks rather than months. If this did not happen, he hinted that DUP ministers at Stormont would also not collaborate in implementing the EU’s rules if no progress was made on the Protocol.

The Protocol, part of the Brexit divorce deal agreed by the UK and Brussels, effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods.

This means checks on goods being sent from Great Britain into the single market in some cases could result in prohibitions on certain products that do not comply with EU rules.

Brexit minister Lord Frost has put forward plans to renegotiate the Protocol, which he set out in a Command Paper last month.

Mr Donaldson, who is leading Unionist concern against the trading arrangements argued they “must go” as it creates an Irish Sea border which “contravenes Article 6 of the Act of Union [of the UK]".

He added: “The protocol which created that border undermines the right of the people of Northern Ireland to trade freely within the UK and those barriers have got to be removed.”

The Lagan Valley MP also issued a stark warning to Lord Frost saying the “clock is ticking” to find a solution else political instability would increase.

Mr Donaldson said: “The harm that this protocol is doing is real, so it is vital that action is taken soon.

“I am talking about weeks and not months, and that if it doesn't happen then the capacity for political instability will increase.