Former British Prime Minister John Major says Boris Johnson's government seems to be preparing to trigger Article 16 as soon as the COP26 summit is over.
Britain's Brexit minister David Frost has said the conditions are there to justify a unilateral suspension of some aspects of the post-Brexit trading arrangements.
They include inspections on British goods going to Northern Ireland to preserve the European single market without a hard border in Ireland.
Mr Major says if Mr Frost triggers Article 16 he would risk destabilising the North's government:
"He gives away nothing. He takes something from the European Union. He goes away, blames them for the fact that nothing at all has happened. And they are preparing I think, to trigger Article 16 after COP. And I think, if they do, they will come to regret it because this runs along other things in Northern Ireland, like the possibility of the destabilisation of the Power Sharing Executive."
