The UK government is to seek the lifting of unexpected Brexit controls in Northern Ireland, including checks on pets crossing the Irish Sea and a ban on British soil entering the region in potted plants from English garden suppliers. The Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, said he would be writing to the European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič on Tuesday, seeking urgent action on Brexit checks that were affecting the “daily life” of people in Northern Ireland. He told parliament he would be addressing the extension of the 1 April grace period on checks on chilled meats, including British sausages, and “everything from pet transport to the provision of plants and seeds to gardens in Northern Ireland, and the daily life of our fellow citizens does need to be protected”. The EU rules on soil and pets are designed to prevent diseases from entering the Republic of Ireland. The original Brexit plan was to draw up a list of goods “at risk” of going over the border but this did not materialise because of rows between negotiators and time constraints. Gove will also meet Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster, the deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, and Šefčovič on Wednesday to discuss escalating tensions over Brexit in Northern Ireland. “All of these issues and more are ways in which the protocol is having an impact on people in Northern Ireland, which is not in the interests of Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, or indeed good relations between US and the EU. Vice-president Maroš Šefčovič totally understands the need to resolve these issues. And with goodwill, I believe that we can [do so] speedily,” said Gove.
The meeting comes after all Northern Irish and EU officials were withdrawn from duties conducting physical checks on goods from Great Britain amid concerns over their safety after reports of “menacing behaviour” and graffiti threatening border officials and the former Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar. The threats have been widely condemned, with Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, describing them as “sinister and ugly”. “Obviously, we will be doing everything we possibly can to assist them to defuse the situation,” he said. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said they did not believe loyalist paramilitaries were involved in threats made to workers conducting post-Brexit trade checks, but that disgruntled individuals or small groups may be responsible, rather than the organised gangs that once instigated serious violence. Assistant chief constable Mark McEwan said: “We are concerned about the actions of a number of individuals and small groups. “We don’t believe that those actions are organised. But they do give us cause for concern.” Sammy Wilson, the Democratic Unionist party MP for East Antrim, said it appeared that one staff member may have been identified or followed home, raising deep concerns among the police and the security services. “It is not a case of just guarding the port. It is a case of real danger when they [staff] go home at night. Because it appears that that is what has been happening at present. They have been gathering intelligence about where people live etc,” he said. The outgoing Northern Ireland agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, has said the controls on the Irish Sea were “disproportionate” and had “certainly created a lot of tension in the community”. The parties in Belfast are sharply divided on EU withdrawal and the Northern Ireland protocol, which keeps the land border in Ireland open but imposes controls on the Irish Sea, and unexpected bans on soil and controls on pets have fuelled opposition in loyalist communities. The DUP MP for Belfast East, Gavin Robinson, told Gove that soil or pets from GB to NI had “zero risks” to the EU and should not have been part of the arrangements designed to stop fraud and smuggling into the Republic of Ireland. Gove pledged to redouble efforts on the workings of the protocol and urged the EU to follow suit. “The EU needs to work with us at speed, and with determination and resolve a series of outstanding issues with the protocol, he said. Gove was pressed by several MPs including Labour’s Hilary Benn and the Conservative MP Simon Hoare, the chair of the Northern Ireland affairs committee, to seek permanent solutions. “We have to make the protocol work and work well,” said Hoare. Louise Haigh, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, said: “Calm is now needed and everyone has a responsibility to dial down the rhetoric and ensure the safety of people in Northern Ireland.”