Judge says post-Brexit N Ireland border checks must continue

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A judge has suspended an order by Northern Ireland’s agriculture minister to halt border checks on goods from the rest of the U.K. that were imposed under the Brexit agreement struck between the U.K. and the European Union. High Court judge Adrian Colton made the interim order pending a full hearing into the legality of the decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots. Poots sparked a political crisis when he ordered officials to stop checks on agri-food products at midnight Wednesday. Civil servants have continued the checks amid legal uncertainty and Poots’ decision is being challenged in the courts. The move by Poots and his Democratic Unionist Party has sparked a crisis in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government.