Brexit news - live: Protocol checks could be ‘overwhelmed’ after grace period as Foster blasts ‘tone deaf’ EU

Tensions were high on Wednesday evening at a meeting of the UK and EU Joint Committee, which ended in Arlene Foster blasting European officials as “tone deaf”.

Northern Ireland’s first minister said she did not have “high expectations [beforehand]... given the attitude of the European Commission thus far”, but was still shocked by Brussels’ “stubborn and inflexible response” to issues surrounding the protocol.

Speaking to the BBC afterwards, Ms Foster said it was now up to Boris Johnson and the government “to step up and protect the United Kingdom internal market”.

It comes after a junior DUP minister warned the party that Irish Sea checking processes could become “overwhelmed” when a grace period covering supermarket goods lapses on 1 April, at which point all retail agri-food products will require EU Export Health Certificates (EHCs) to move from Britain in to Northern Ireland.

“We can’t have a situation where the internal market of the United Kingdom is disrupted so much to the point where it’s effectively crippling our businesses,” Gary Middleton told an Assembly committee.

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