Northern Ireland supermarkets call for urgent action to prevent trade disruption Sunday, July 18, 2021 By Rebecca Black, PA The North’s leading supermarkets have issued a call for urgent action to avoid trade disruption under the terms of the Brexit protocol. Six of the UK’s leading retailers, representing over 75 per cent of the region’s grocery market, have written to Brexit minister David Frost and European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic, calling for urgent action over trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit deal, is aimed at avoiding a hard border with the Republic by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market for goods.