Succulent: A plate of pork sausages sourced from the Lisdergan Butchery in Fintona, Co Tyrone Expand

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Succulent: A plate of pork sausages sourced from the Lisdergan Butchery in Fintona, Co Tyrone

Succulent: A plate of pork sausages sourced from the Lisdergan Butchery in Fintona, Co Tyrone

Succulent: A plate of pork sausages sourced from the Lisdergan Butchery in Fintona, Co Tyrone

Sarah Collins

The EU has agreed to allow British sausage and mince exports to Northern Ireland for a further three months.

The issue has become a totemic one for Conservatives and Unionists, who see Northern Ireland being edged out of the UK’s internal market.

The European Commission will also ease restrictions for medicines, guide dogs, motor insurance and livestock movements between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The measures have been or are due to be phased in under a protocol to the 2019 EU-UK exit deal, which essentially keeps Northern Ireland in both the EU and UK markets.

Following a request from the UK, the Commission said on Wednesday - the day a six-month grace period on chilled meats was due to expire - that it would extend the measure until September 30.

However, the EU has insisted it won't offer rolling extensions or grace periods.

“We are not issuing a blank cheque,” said EU vice-president and Brexit commissioner Maros Sefcovic. “This solution is of a temporary nature, in which strong conditions are attached.”

British chilled meat exports will still have to meet strict labelling and health certification rules, and must only be sold in Northern Irish supermarkets.

The extension is to give Northern Irish supermarkets time to switch suppliers and to let the UK mull over the bloc's offer of a Swiss-style veterinary agreement, which it says would eliminate all physical checks on food coming into the North from Britain.

The UK has ruled out such an agreement because it would mean aligning with EU health and safety standards.

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Supermarkets have already begun to switch to local suppliers and to source meat from the Republic, the EU said.

While the UK’s Brexit minister, David Frost, said it was “a positive first step”, he indicated he is unwilling to accept an eventual ban on British meat exports.

“Northern Ireland is an integral part of the United Kingdom and its consumers should be able to enjoy products they have bought from Great Britain for years,” he said.

Meanwhile, an EU official said the bloc would keep “a very close eye” on the UK’s new subsidy regime.

On Wednesday, the UK announced an overhaul of its state aid rules to allow for speedier payments to “viable” companies.

UK business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the bill “marks a clear departure from the old, bureaucratic EU state aid regime”, which requires subsidies to be notified and pre-approved by the European Commission.