Haulage companies frustrated by the red tape and bureaucracy introduced as part of the Northern Ireland Protocol have launched legal proceedings. They claim the Protocol infringes the economic rights of Northern Ireland citizens.
If the legal action is successful it could force the Government to pay out huge financial settlements in compensation for the disruption to trade caused by the Brexit deal.
Many goods travelling from the British mainland to Northern Ireland are subject to customs checks.
Northern Ireland is still a part of the single market under the Protocol and as a result, products heading across the Irish Sea face extra paperwork.
Solicitor Clive Thorne, who is acting for the claimants, said the next legal stage move would be to formally add a “long queue” of interested companies to the action. A court hearing would then follow, said Mr Thorne.
“We would say that the Protocol legislation is unlawful because it conflicts with the rights under the Human Rights Act and contained in the European Convention,” he said.
“This very much is a piece of commercial litigation, rather than political or constitutional litigation, whereby businesses in Northern Ireland, and also in Great Britain, have suffered adversity as a result of the framing of the Protocol and the way in which it has become part of United Kingdom law.”
He added: “If the Government is found to have acted unlawfully, then it has opened the door to possible subsequent claims for compensation for the damage suffered.”
The solicitor said the claim has two main arguments based on the impact facing businesses trading between Great Britain, and the Protocol’s implications for ordinary citizens.
More to follow…
