Ban on the sale of chilled meat to Northern Ireland delayed again, under UK deal with EU

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New checks and commercial routine across the Irish Sea – including a ban on the sale of refrigerated meat – will be postponed again, under an expected UK-EU deal.

The government is preparing to announce further extensions of post-Brexit “grace periods” until at least the end of the year, possibly as early as today.

A government source said Brussels had agreed to delay the implementation of the new rules from the beginning of October – for the third time – saying: “So the sausage wars are on hold.”

But the interim agreement will only end the can and does not mean the EU is ready to freeze the Northern Ireland Protocol and end oversight by EU courts, as the UK has demanded.

The Irish government insisted again that there was “no desire” in EU capitals to rewrite the agreement, saying solutions “can be found within the existing agreement”.

Further delay would obviate the immediate threat of examination of goods of animal origin entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain and the important new paperwork involved.

Most of the controversy has touched on the ban on refrigerated meat crossing the Irish Sea – the so-called “sausage wars” – which are also set to take effect from next month.

The latest delay is likely to require the UK to comply with Brussels’ food standards rules, but ministers insist it falls short of the “dynamic consensus” it opposes.

The source declined to say whether the grace periods would be extended by six months, but said he would delay the new rules “a very far way”.

The two sides remain far apart, with the UK demanding a “durable solution” to the crisis – while the EU insists the delays should be used to arrange for retailers to get meat from the Republic of Ireland.

A “leadership paper” issued in July by the UK further heightened tensions, calling for grace periods to become permanent and a halt to EU legal action over non-implementation of the protocol.

David Frost, Brexit minister, also insisted that the protocol “must no longer be subject to oversight by EU institutions and courts of justice” – a cornerstone of the 2019 deal signed by Boris Johnson.

Grace periods were extended in both March and June, for the second time with Brussels’ approval, but only for three months.

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, admitted that the protocol was causing “real turmoil”, which the European Commission wanted to address.

But he told the BBC: “We don’t really see the issue of renegotiating it any time soon, we think most of the solutions can be found within the existing agreement.

The protocol requires all goods bound from Great Britain to Northern Ireland to follow European Union regulations, and establish a trade border in the Irish Sea.

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