Police holiday restricted amid fears Brexit could trigger terror attacks in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland police officers have had their holiday leave restricted after the Brexit deadline, amid fears a no-deal Brexit could provide a “rallying cry” for republican terror groups.

George Clarke, assistant chief constable at the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI), told MPs the move was an effort to “maximise our own ability to stand on our own two feet”.

He stressed the threat of violent dissident republicanism had been severe for many years, but Brexit risked being used an “opportunity to have a clarion call, a rallying cry”.

“There is a potential for opportunities to exist for them to carry out their terrorist crime and activities depending on what [border] infrastructure for example would look like,” Mr Clarke told MPs on Tuesday.

On the implications of a no-deal Brexit, Mr Clarke said PSNI would lose access to crucial information systems such as the European Arrest Warrant and the European Criminal Records Information System.

“We step back into a system that is sub-optimal, that is slower, that is, forgive the awful phrase, that is clunky as opposed to the current situations.”

Speaking to MPs on the Exiting the European Union committee at Westminster, Mr Clarke said that “mutual aid” systems are already in place if officers from different police forces in the UK are requested in Northern Ireland.

Asked whether it would be likely for the police services in Northern Ireland to make such a request in the event of a no-deal scenario, he added: “I find it extremely difficult to put a likelihood on it because it is so dependent on what is happening in circumstances.

“We have, for example, from the 31 October we restricted leave for our officers to 10 per cent. We’ve already put arrangements in place to maximise our own ability to stand on our own two feet.”

On the threat of a violent dissident republicanism, he said the groups had been operating at a “severe threat level” for nine to ten years, “so that level of threat is not new”.

He continued: “I think the issue with Brexit as a generality or EU exit as a generality is that it can become a tool to hang – even using the terms Brexit, EU exit, can provide you with an opportunity to have a clarion call, a rallying cry.

“I think it’s really important, however, to remember these people have posed this very really, very significant and very dangerous threat.”

Also appearing on the committee’s panel on Tuesday, Ivor Ferguson, the president of Ulster Farmers Union, claimed a no-deal Brexit would be “catastrophic”.

“It would mean market failure, it would mean bankruptcy for a fair percentage of farmers, so obviously you can understand it’s a place where we just don’t want to go,” he said.

“It’s why we as a farming organisation – although it’s dead in the water now – but we did support Theresa May’s deal at the start.”