Scottish border checks on Northern Ireland goods ‘playing with fire’

Sam Lowe, of the Centre for European Reform think tank, cautioned that any such checks could undermine the Withdrawal Agreement, which gave the Government the power to define which Northern Ireland goods qualified for unfettered access to the UK’s internal market.

The Internal Market Bill would prevent any government, including Edinburgh, from introducing any new checks, controls or administrative processes on those “qualifying goods”.

“This is playing with fire because the Northern Ireland Protocol is quite a delicate balance,” Mr Lowe said.

“The SNP has always had in the back of its mind that it’s unfair that Northern Ireland gets preferential access to the EU and Scotland can’t get the same. But the context is different: Northern Ireland is a post-conflict zone; Scotland isn’t.”