Tensions rise in North after Johnson threatens to invoke Article 16

Prime minister said his government is considering unilaterally stopping Brexit-related checks between Britain and Northern Ireland

Anger at the Irish Sea Border and the Northern Ireland Protocol is rife in loyalist areas of Northern Ireland. Picture: Alan Lewis

The row over the Northern Ireland protocol has escalated significantly after Boris Johnson said he would invoke Article 16.

The British prime minister said that his government is considering unilaterally stopping Brexit-related checks between Britain and Northern Ireland.

"[We will] do everything we need to do, whether legislatively or indeed by invoking Article 16 of the Protocol, to ensure that there is no barrier down the Irish Sea,” he told the House of Commons today.

The prime minister was replying to MP Ian Paisley Jr after the DUP announced it would attempt to unite unionism to campaign against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

In a statement, the unionist majority party warned that north-south relationships will not continue as normal.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar joined Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney in rejecting any undermining of the protocol.

"I don't know what that means or what the DUP means by that, but I guess we'll find out in coming weeks or months," he said.

"Our commitment is very clear to work with the British government, the European Commission, and the Northern Ireland Executive, if they're willing, to iron out any of the real difficulties that have arisen from the Northern Ireland protocol, not forgetting that the protocol is there for a reason.

"It's there to make sure we don't have a hard border between north and south and checks have to happen somewhere, so they're happening in Northern Irish ports. It seems to me there is not a majority in Northern Ireland to change that. 

"If the majority of people in the assembly are asked, or in Northern Ireland, where they want checks to happen, on the land border between north and south or at Larne and Belfast, they would say the least worst option is Larne and Belfast. 

"We need to make that work and try and make it as seamless and frictionless as possible and that's the reality of the situation."

Physical inspections on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which are required under the protocol, have been suspended amid threats and intimidation of staff.

Mr Varadkar, who was himself subjected to racist graffiti over the weekend in Belfast over the protocol issue, condemned threats toward port staff.

"I think any of us have to condemn utterly anyone who would threaten to do violence to someone in the course of their work, whether it's a customs official working for the government or a member of the security forces, there is no justification for anyone making threats of violence when it comes to this issue."