Belfast court rules Brexit checks must continue for now

Northern Ireland authorities must continue to carry out checks on goods entering the region from the rest of the U.K., a Belfast court ruled, little more than a day after a minister for the devolved government ordered the checks to be stopped. 

The high court in Belfast ruled inspections on agri-food goods must continue pending a judicial review set for next month, Irish state broadcaster RTE said, citing the court ruling.

The court’s decision follows an order late Wednesday from Northern Ireland’s Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots for a halt on checks on trade coming into the region from the U.K. The checks had come into force as a result of the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit agreement that was designed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland following the U.K.’s departure from the European Union.

The EU decried Poots’ order as a breach of international law, even as the British government insisted it was a matter for the region’s power sharing assembly. 

The ruling comes a day after Democratic Unionist Party lawmaker Paul Givan quit as First Minister, throwing the future of the assembly into chaos ahead of elections scheduled for May. DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson indicated his party won’t return to the assembly until issues around the protocol have are resolved.