LONDON: The unionist mayor of a Northern Irish district said on Tuesday that tensions over the Brexit deal had been rising and that he received intelligence that people were taking down the car registration numbers of port staff.

Northern Ireland temporarily suspended some inspections at two ports late on Monday after a local council withdrew staff over concerns for their safety and police said they planned to increase patrols at points of entry.

"Tensions have been rising, the Protocol is quite clearly having a damaging impact not just on the port of Larne.... but all of Northern Ireland," Peter Johnston, the Democratic Unionist Party mayor of Mid & East Antrim, told Sky.

"We had received intelligence that there was individuals taking registration plate numbers from staff who were coming to and from the port, that's quite sinister."