CORONAVIRUS, uncertainty and lack of momentum over Brexit have combined to create a “potent threat” to Northern Ireland’s stability and prosperity, peers have told the UK Government.

In a report issued today, members of the House of Lords accuse ministers of having failed to provide the clarity Northern Ireland needs on future cross-border trade.

And they say the stresses of Covid-19 on communities and the economy have made the need to work out the “tension” in post-Brexit plans more urgent.

While it’s known that Northern Ireland will have to follow EU agriculture and manufactured goods rules to maintain access to the single market and keep the border with Ireland free-flowing, it’s feared “onerous” customs processes on goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland risk creating “significant” economic damage which could harm stability.

The report, produced by the Lords EU Committee, warns there’s little time to address the issues before the protocol on Northern Ireland and Ireland comes into force in just seven months’ time.

Punitive tariffs may be levied on goods thought to be “at risk” of entering the EU’s internal market through the Republic of Ireland, if no free trade arrangement is made. But negotiators have yet to determine exactly which may be “at risk”.

The Lords’ criticism comes one fortnight after ministers attempted to set out details in a command paper which stated that checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK will be kept to a “minimum”.

But committee chair Lord Kinnoull said: “We still don’t know what the protocol will mean in practice for businesses based in or trading with Northern Ireland.

“Two weeks ago the government published a Command Paper to explain its approach to the protocol. But while it addresses the right areas, it’s almost all in the future tense. Northern Ireland needs practical action now, not jam tomorrow.

“Time is now extremely short. My committee warned back in 2016 of the danger of Northern Ireland becoming collateral damage of Brexit. The government and the EU now urgently need to work together to provide clear guidance and a proportionate approach to the application of the protocol. Failure on either side would threaten Northern Ireland’s prosperity and stability.”

Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, DUP leader and First Minister of Stormont, Arlene Foster, said ensuring there are no “unnecessary checks” at the border that may harm the economy is “the best way to protect” the landmark Good Friday Agreement, which has stood since 1998.

Meanwhile, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has warned there will be no trade deal unless Boris Johnson sticks to his promises.

A fourth round of trade talks take place this week and Barnier told the Sunday Times that the prospect of a No-Deal end to the transition period this year would be compounded by the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.

He said the EU’s heads of state remembered “very clearly the text which we negotiated with Boris Johnson”, adding: “The UK has been taking a step back, two steps back, three steps back, from the original commitments.

“The UK negotiators need to be fully in line with what the Prime Minister signed up to with us. Because 27 heads of state and government and the European Parliament do not have a short memory.”