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| - Belfast's High Court on Wednesday rejected a legal challenge against a Brexit protocol agreed by London and Brussels which has disrupted trade and sparked violence in Northern Ireland. The ruling is a blow to leaders from pro-UK unionist parties who launched the legal action, although they are likely to appeal and the case could end up in the UK's Supreme Court. The protocol, signed separately from a last-minute Brexit trade deal agreed in December, put checks on goods between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK in a bid to preserve the Good Friday agreement and stop unchecked products entering the bloc by the back door via Ireland. The unionist politicians, including former Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leaders,argue that the Northern Ireland Protocol is incompatible with the 1998 Good Friday Belfast Agreement, which ended three decades of violence over British rule in the province. They also sought to scrap the protocol on the grounds it was incompatible with the 1800 Act of Union which merged the kingdoms of Britain and Ireland. But judge Adrian Colton rejected all grounds of the legal challenge. He said that while the 2020 Brexit divorce legislation, which contains the protocol, conflicted with the Act of the Union, it also overrode the 1800 law. He also ruled that the protocol does not breach the 1998 legislation that enshrines the terms of the Good Friday peace agreement. Although a win for the government, the case raises political questions about whether its Brexit legislation has weakened the centuries-old law binding the union, by repealing parts of it. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament that he would "of course study the rulings", but added that "nothing will affect the position of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom". The months following Britain's definitive departure from the European Union after 40 years of membership have been overshadowed by tensions between Brussels and London, with the protocol becoming a principle flashpoint. Northern Ireland's unionist communities have railed against the protocol, saying that by effectively keeping the province in the European single market and customs union, it threatens its place in the United Kingdom. Simmering anger about goods shortages and uncertainty for businesses blamed on the protocol have boiled over into clashes between police and demonstrators that revived memories of the worst days of sectarian violence. Disagreements between London and Brussels over checks on chilled meat products to Northern Ireland overshadowed a recent G7 summit, where European leaders vowed no compromise and urged Boris Johnson to implement what he signed. However, both sides have indicated a deal on extending a grace period on chilled meat checks may be forthcoming and resolve the spat which has been dubbed the "sausage war" in the British media. csp/jwp/phz/tgb
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