N.Ireland first minister may quit as EU warns Britain over Brexit checks

FILE PHOTO: Edwin Poots arrives at the DUP ruling executive meeting to ratify Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader designate Sir Jeffrey Donaldson as party leader, in Belfast, Northern Ireland June 30, 2021. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff/File Photo

BELFAST (Reuters) -Northern Ireland's first minister intends to resign later on Thursday in protest at post-Brexit trade rules, the BBC reported as the European Union warned Britain that it would breach international law if it lets Belfast halt some checks on goods.

Tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, signed as part of Britain's exit from the EU, flared again on Wednesday when the British province's Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots ordered an immediate halt to checks on agri-food goods coming into the region from the rest of the United Kingdom.