Full Brexit checks risk becoming ‘incendiary’ in N.Ireland, MS says

Full Brexit checks risk becoming ‘incendiary’ in N.Ireland, MS says

LONDON - The introduction of full customs checks between Britain and Northern Ireland risks becoming "incendiary" when prices rise and favourite products fail to get through, one of the country's biggest retailers said. Archie Norman, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, told BBC Radio that the planned introduction of full post-Brexit checks in October would be "business destructive" and prevent the food and clothing retailer from providing its full range. Customs officials have so far applied a light-touch approach to checking goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain under a protocol system that was designed to keep open the province's border with EU member Ireland while stopping goods from entering the EU's single market unchecked across that frontier. Norman said the retailer had already struggled to get goods into EU members Ireland and France since Britain left the European Union's single market at the beginning of the year, due to the huge amount of paperwork that was required. He expects his stores in Northern Ireland to suffer a similar fate if the introduction of full checks goes ahead. "It risks being incendiary for the public in Northern Ireland because you can't think of a more visible demonstration of how you're no