Northern Ireland's First Minister to resign today over Brexit border row

DUP First Minister Paul Givan talks to the media at Stormont in Belfast after meeting with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Picture date: Thursday January 27, 2022.
DUP First Minister Paul Givan talks to the media at Stormont in Belfast after meeting with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for talks on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Picture date: Thursday January 27, 2022.
David Young
Jamie  Micklethwaite

By Jamie Micklethwaite


Published: 03/02/2022

- 09:52

Paul Givan will step aside today, GB News understands

Givan's resignation is due to problems caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The move is expected to come only hours after Edwin Poots made the popular announcement on food checks yesterday.


The Northern Ireland agriculture minister has indicated for some time that he will stop checks at the ports and airports if he failed to get permission to carry on the checks from his Executive colleagues.

The decision to stop the checks is likely to put the EU under pressure, following indications from Liz Truss suggesting that the UK will not get involved with devolved affairs.

The Northern Irish government could find itself under threat should civil servants or outside governments override the process.

The decision is likely to be celebrated by the DUP and unionists, who have long opposed the Northern Ireland protocol.

The protocol was put in place in order to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland by creating a customs and regulatory border in the Irish Sea.

They claim the border has resulted in economic hardship, and has undermined Northern Ireland's constitutional position as an integral part of the UK by placing a barrier between it and Britain.

Sinn Fein deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill branded Mr Poots’s actions a “stunt”.

She tweeted: “This stunt is an attempt by the DUP to unlawfully interfere with domestic and international law.”

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