The sources told the newspaper that triggering Article 16 would “provide a stop-gap while a legislation to unilaterally rewrite the NIP passes through the Commons, which is not expected until the end of this year at the earliest.”
“Some government officials have raised concerns about issues coming down the track and have presented many options to ministers to deal with them,” one of the sources said.
NIP Bill Doesn't Damage EU, Truss Claims
This was preceded by No 10 stressing that the bill will allow the government “to address the practical problems the Protocol has created in Northern Ireland in four key areas: burdensome customs processes, inflexible regulation, tax and spend discrepancies and democratic governance issues.”
Part of the Brexit deal that went into force in January 2021, the NIP stipulates that there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, but under the document, all goods and animal-based products coming from the rest of British territory must be checked upon arrival to ensure their compatibility with EU sanitary regulations.