UK and European Union negotiators are frantically trying to thrash out a deal to prevent an escalation of the ‘sausage wars’ later this week.

From Thursday, chilled meats being sold from Great Britain into Northern Ireland will be banned, an issue which has become an unlikely Brexit fault line.

Downing Street are asking for a three-month extension to the current arrangements and have not ruled out taking unilateral action to breach the rules if one is not granted. 

The Prime Minister’s spokesperson did not deny that ‘all options remain on the table’ and said: ‘We have further time now to discuss with our EU partners and that is what we will be doing.’

European Commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, struck a more optimistic note when he appeared in front of a Stormont committee today. 

Mr Šefčovič told Northern Irish legislators there had been ‘intensive contact’ between London and Brussels and signalled a deal could be struck, the BBC reports.

He said: ‘While I cannot today announce the EU’s formal agreement to the request, but after all the internal contacts I have had, I remain confident we can find a solution in the next 48 hours that will address both sides’ needs and concerns.

‘I hope to be bringing such optimism to Northern Ireland more in the future.’

The Northern Ireland protocol was designed to prevent border checks between the Republic of Ireland and the North but it does create a trade barrier in the Irish Sea.

Northern Ireland left the EU with the rest of the UK but remains in the single market for goods, which England, Scotland and Wales do not.

A six month grace period was agreed for some goods heading into Northern Ireland from the mainland that the EU usually wouldn’t allow to enter the free trade zone, such as sausages.

That six month grace period is due to expire on Thursday and an extension or a more permanent solution has yet to be agreed.

Unionist groups are opposed to any checks in Northern Ireland as they say it creates a different status for the province compared to the rest of the UK.

Under the terms of the protocol, goods travelling from the mainland into Northern Ireland are checked at land borders while goods heading south from the north into the Republic can pass freely.

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