Brexit news - live: Port staff threatened as Northern Ireland border checks halted and EU officials withdraw

Signing off now from The Independent’s live Brexit coverage for the night. There will be further updates tomorrow when representatives from the UK and EU are due to discuss the future of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The government suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Lords tonight as peers backing an amendment to the Trade Bill aimed at preventing trade agreements with countries found to have carried out genocide.

Peers backed the amendment by 359 votes to 188, majority 171. The bill will return to the House of Commons next Tuesday.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab had dismissed a similar amendment as “well meaning” but “rather ineffective and counter-productive”.

The official White House twitter page has paid tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, saying he “inspired millions through his life and actions”. 

The prime minister has put the onus on the European Union to resolve the issues around the Northern Ireland protocol.

The EU unilaterally triggered Article 16 of the Protocol last Friday (before swiftly U-turning) in a row over vaccine supplies and has faced days of criticism from the British side for the decision.

Micahel Gove earlier said there were “significant problems” at the Northern Ireland border and urged the EU to work with the UK “at speed and with determination" to resolve outstanding issues with the Protocol. 

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, said the government will be working with the European Commission to solve the problems currently facing the province.

Michael Gove earlier criticised the EU for damaging trust last week by trying to impose controls on vaccine exports to Northern Ireland. 

“We do need to make sure that supermarkets and other traders can continue, as they are at the moment, to be able to supply consumers with the goods that they need,” Mr Gove told the Commons earlier.

Lord Kim Darroch has said he expects diplomatic relations between the UK and US to return to “normal” under the presidency of Joe Biden.

The former ambassador to the US, who was forced to resign after emails containing his frank assessment of Donald Trump were leaked, told MPs the relationship between the former president and Theresa May had been “strained”.

But, he told the Commons Defence Committee earlier, defence and security relations continued to strengthen even during Mr Trump’s term, adding: "That aspect of the relationship continued to prosper even while things were difficult at a senior political level, and that's a very good foundation on which to build what I expect to be a rather more normal and constructive relationship with the new administration."

Scotland's seafood and fishing industry has been allocated £7.75m to help the sector deal with the dual-shock of coronavirus and Brexit.

The package includes £6.45 million for the Seafood Producers Resilience Fund, providing support to eligible shellfish catchers and producers, in addition to trout farmers who have faced issues exporting to the EU, the Scottish government announced on Tuesday.

A further £1m is available to support the investment plans of ports and harbours faced with a loss of income through landing fees and £300,000 has been awarded to the Fishermen's Mission to offer emergency support for workers experiencing hardship.

Fergus Ewing, the fisheries secretary, said: “Both shellfish and trout businesses who have faced losses due to Covid-19 hospitality closures across Europe are now losing products or facing additional costs due to border disruption and new non-tariff barriers.

“It's not just exporting, we know this has serious knock-on effects that ripples right through the supply chain from boats struggling to land at ports to not being able to sell their catch." 

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has suggested that the UK won a head start in its Covid-19 vaccination programme by compromising on “safety and efficacy”.

Speaking to French newspaper Le Monde, the commission president defended the EU’s decision to authorise potential vaccines centrally through the European Medicines Agency.

Asked about the UK’s ability to move more quickly, Ms von der Leyen told Le Monde: “Some countries started to vaccinate a little before Europe, it is true. But they resorted to emergency, 24-hour marketing authorisation procedures.

More on the president’s comments, along with criticism from France’s health minister, here:

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has been accused of falling short in his response to the coup in Myanmar, after the UK government announced no new sanctions on the country’s military, our Political Editor Andrew Woodcock reports.

Foreign Office minister Nigel Adams told the House of Commons that sanctions were already in place against individuals including the military’s commander-in-chief and his deputy, who he described as “the architects of this current crisis”.

But Labour said that the UK should go further, taking action against the south-east Asian country’s armed forces and their business interests, extending arms embargo and offering formal backing to a case of genocide against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice.

Read the full report here:

The DUP has announced a series of measures it will take to try and undermine the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The party said Northern Ireland is “already suffering real economic and societal difficulties” due to the Protocol and highlighted Friday’s vaccine debacle with the EU as the prime example of the “unsustainable” nature of the agreed terms.

In response, the party said it will:

• Oppose Protocol-related legislation in Stormont
• Not engage with the Republic of Ireland on issues related to the protocol
• Gather unionists behind a united anti-Protocol message
• Attempt to build support in Westminster for the anti-Protocol position
• Launch a parliamentary e-petition to try and force a debate in the Westminster parliament