NI: Lawsuit claims Northern Ireland Protocol infringes on economic rights
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Clive Thorne
Lawyers have launched a class action lawsuit against the UK government over the economic impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Ballymena-based haulage company Blair International and DUP MP Ian Paisley have been named as the initial claimants in the claim form lodged with the High Court in London this week, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
Clive Thorne, partner at London firm McCarthy Denning, is representing the claimants, who argue that the Protocol conflicts with economic rights provided for by the Human Rights Act 1998.
A number of other claimants drawn from the business sector are expected to join the action.
Mr Thorne said: “This very much is a piece of commercial litigation, rather than political or constitutional litigation, whereby businesses in Northern Ireland, and also in Great Britain, have suffered adversity as a result of the framing of the Protocol and the way in which it has become part of UK law.”
He added: “If the Government is found to have acted unlawfully, then it has opened the door to possible subsequent claims for compensation for the damage suffered.”
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