The British government will need to introduce legislation to impose direct rule on Northern Ireland in the event of a ‘no deal’ Brexit, incoming Johnson administration ministers are being warned.

The highly politically toxic move would pit the Johnson administration squarely against the Irish government and effectively suspend the Good Friday Agreement, with Belfast ruled from London.

However, without the imposition of direct rule, officials and experts warn that Northern Ireland, whose devolved government collapsed in January 2017, would become essentially ungoverned as it faced its biggest crisis since the signing of the 1998 peace deal.

The return of direct rule would also anger the nationalist community and rapidly risk fuelling calls for a ‘border poll’ on the reunification of Ireland, Irish officials warned.

Brexiteer ministers are understood to be questioning the need to introduce the legislation ahead of a possible ‘no deal’ Brexit.

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Jacob Rees-Mogg, the newly appointed Leader of the House of Commons confirmed that the issue was under discussion - but declined to rule out the move.

"That is not necessarily correct that legislation is needed to impose direct rule. I had a meeting on that earlier and that is not necessarily correct but that is not a definitive answer,” he told The Telegraph in an interview.

“This is speculation and I think it is unlikely to be necessary but I am not giving a guarantee that it is not necessary."

However experts warned that with no active government in Stormont the British government will have no choice but to table legislation, or risk Northern Ireland spiralling out of control in the event of a ‘no deal’.

A report by the Northern Ireland Civil Service warned earlier this month that some 40,000 jobs would be at risk by a ‘no deal’, with exports to the Republic of Ireland falling by up to 19 per cent overnight as the EU imposed tariffs, rendering much agricultural trade uneconomic.

Michael Gove, now in charge of ‘no deal’ planning, warned last March that imposing some form of direct rule on Northern Ireland was a “very real possibility”, a view echoed by his predecessor David Lidington to the Brexit select committee last month.

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“There would need to be either some new statute to give powers to the Secretary of State...or we might need to have emergency legislation for Northern Ireland on more than one subject, depending upon the actual out-working of a no-deal exit,” he said.

He added the recent legal judgments - the so-called Buick judgment - had confirmed that the Northern Ireland civil service could only act “in the most restricted way possible” without political direction.

The Irish government is clear that it would be hugely problematic to impose direct rule from London at a time when the only Northern Irish political voice in Westminster was the Democratic Unionist Party.

In an interview with the Telegraph earlier this year, Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister warned that any such imposition would “not be a balanced direct rule for Northern Ireland” and would cause “a lot of problems”.

Northern Ireland's Culture Secretary of State Karen Bradley, British Prime Minister Theresa May and Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar applaud as the coffin of murdered journalist Lyra McKee is taken out of the church after the funeral service at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 24, 2019. credit: Reuters

The current legislation under which talks to reform the power-sharing executive, the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Act 2019, only gives “very modest” powers to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to run the province, according to government sources.

Joe Owen, programme director at the Institute for Government, said that while politically toxic, it would be even more alarming if Westminster did not pass direct rule legislation.

“If you can’t get this bill through Parliament, then the area most acutely affected by ‘no deal’ is left most exposed, unable to respond in the way it would need to try and manage some of the worst effects.”

He explained that without the legislation, Northern Ireland officials would be left completely rudderless, and without any legal basis to make the most basic policy decisions at a critical moment for the province.

“It would be like the Treasury in London with no chancellor or government starting to dramatically increase public spending,” said.