Northern Ireland

DUP to vote against 'Stormont Brake'

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, UUP Leader Doug Beattie and Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris during a St Patrick's Day Celebration reception and Shamrock presentation ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC, during Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's visit to the US for St Patrick's Day. Picture date: Friday March 17, 2023. PICTURE: Niall Carson/PA.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, UUP Leader Doug Beattie and Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris during a St Patrick's Day Celebration reception and Shamrock presentation ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC, during Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's visit to the US for St Patrick's Day. Picture date: Friday March 17, 2023. PICTURE: Niall Carson/PA.

Downing Street has made clear there will be no "substantial changes" to the Windsor Framework after it was announced DUP MPs will vote against the introduction of the so-called Stormont 'brake'.

Current EU laws that allow Northern Ireland to remain part of the European common market are not acceptable, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said when announcing the party's will vote on Wednesday against the statutory instrument.

Downing Street said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is confident the House of Parliament will vote in favour of the subordinate legislation and there are no plans for any substantial changes to the Windsor Framework agreed with EU.

Sir Jeffrey announced early on Monday afternoon his party's decision that its MPs will vote against the introduction of the statutory instrument. This was prior to the publication of further details on the 'brake'.

The 'brake', part of the Windsor Framework between the EU and the UK, means any new EU laws or rules can be immediately held up if 30 MLAs make the request.

It will then be up to the UK government to decide whether the act “significantly differs” from existing law and that it will have a “significant impact” on everyday life.

London on Monday also announced a new committee based in Stormont will scrutinise any new EU legislation. It was not clear late on Monday how the UK government can order the establishment of a committee based in Belfast.

Downing Street said it believes the framework is the best deal for the people and businesses in the north. The PM's office added it is willing to answer any further questions from the DUP.

The 'brake' means MLAs can suspend new EU rules and the UK Government has an "unequivocal veto" to permanently disallow them.

Announcing his party's MPs would vote against the statutory instrument establishing the 'brake', Sir Jeffrey said the Windsor Framework "does not deal with some of the fundamental problems at the heart of our current difficulties".

"It is our party view that there remain key areas of concern which require further clarification, re-working and change as well as seeing further legal text," the Lagan Valley MP said.

"There is no doubt it is vital that the Northern Ireland Assembly must have at its disposal democratic mechanisms that are effective in law and which underscore the role of the locally elected representatives of the people of Northern Ireland to determine whether amended or new laws are implemented.

"Notwithstanding the issues and conditions which have to be met to make the brake work it remains the case that the 'brake' is not designed for, and therefore cannot apply, to the EU law which is already in place and for which no consent has been given for its application."

The 'brake' does not deal with the fundamental issue which is the imposition of EU law by the Protocol," he added.

Sir Jeffrey said there are suggestions the vote on Wednesday "will be read as indicative of current positions on the wider Windsor Framework package".

Party officers met on Monday morning and "agreed that in the context of our ongoing concerns and the need to see further progress secured whilst continuing to seek clarification, change and re-working that our Members of Parliament would vote against the draft statutory instrument on Wednesday".

While it is expected the majority of the Commons will vote in favour of the statutory instrument, some Tory MPs have indicated they are opposed. These include members of the European Research Group, strong Brexiteers.

Peter Bone, a former deputy Commons leader, said he was “very unhappy” about the statutory instrument, adding: "I’ve not been given a reasonable explanation as to why it’s being done that way."

“The government is starting from a point of rubbing me up the wrong way on this. The whole thing about the Windsor Framework is everyone agrees it’s an improvement, but this isn’t going to be a temporary measure – this is permanent.

Under the Windsor Framework, goods from Britain destined for Northern Ireland will travel through a new "green lane" while another "red lane" will be established for goods going to the Republic.

In an open letter to Mr Sunak, major companies, including Amazon, Sainsbury's, Airbus and Coca Cola, have backed the Windsor Framework and called for the Executive to be restored.

Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy, the former finance minister, said it was "a welcome intervention".

"The letter describes the agreement as the 'most sustainable path forward' and calls for a restored executive to focus on the economic opportunities of our unique access to the EU single market and British market," he told the BBC.

"That is a competitive advantage which is the envy of economies everywhere and we need an executive in place to deliver on its potential."