Brexit: High court rejects attempt to overhaul Northern Ireland protocol
Belfast’s high court has today dismissed a legal challenge to the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol.
The Belfast court ruled that the EU Withdrawal Act supersedes claims that the Protocol breaches the Acts of Union between Britain and Ireland.
The ruling will be welcomed by UK and EU negotiators who are set to announce a range of new arrangements today at 3.30pm in a move to cool the current spat over checks on goods entering Ireland from Great Britain by crossing the Irish Sea.
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Mr Justice Colton rejected a judicial review brought forward by applicants which included the Democratic Unionist Party.
Justice Colton did note that the Protocol does conflict with elements of the Acts of Union, but new treaties, such as the EU withdrawal agreement, were a prerogative power over which the courts had little oversight.
He dismissed the argument that Northern Ireland citizens’ human rights were being ignored as a result of being subjected to EU laws that apply in the region without being able to elect MEPs to the European parliament.
Former Democratic Unionist party leader Arlene Foster and former UUP leader Steve Aiken were among members of the group which launched the proceedings.
Read more: UK and EU set for truce in Northern Ireland sausage ban row