The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has set up a consultation group to help deliberate on whether to accept proposed UK–EU legislation to replace post-Brexit trading arrangements.
The panel—made up of politicians as well as business and legal representatives—will carefully scrutinise the Windsor Framework deal, as well as engage with members of the unionist and loyalist communities in Northern Ireland, the party said on Monday.
It will include former DUP leaders and first ministers Peter Robinson and Baroness Arlene Foster, according to party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.
Announcing the new group in a statement posted on the DUP’s website, Sir Jeffrey said: “Today I have established a group to commence and undertake a wide consultation process within Northern Ireland, listening and taking views on the Framework document.
“This work will be undertaken in parallel with our on-going engagement with the UK Government.
“The group will comprise both members of our party as well as independent thinkers who have standing within the broader community.
“They will want to engage with a broad section of the unionist and loyalist community, the business sector, civic society and others who want to see Northern Ireland prosper within the Union.”
Sir Jeffrey once again made it clear that the DUP will take its time to consider the Windsor Framework before deciding whether to back it and lift its current blockade of devolution at Stormont.
Stormont Brake
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the framework deal last week after months of intensive negotiations aimed at reducing checks on Irish Sea trade created by Brexit’s contentious Northern Ireland Protocol.While cutting back on checks required on goods destined for use in Northern Ireland arriving from Great Britain, the deal also contains a new mechanism, the so-called “Stormont brake,” that offers a minority of MLAs—30 from at least two parties—he ability to refer to the UK government its concerns about the introduction of new EU laws in Northern Ireland.
The government could then potentially prevent the application of those laws in the region.
Sunak has also committed to amending the 1998 Northern Ireland Act to provide further reassurance to unionists about the region’s constitutional status within the UK.
Some prominent DUP figures, including Lord Dodds and MPs Sammy Wilson and Ian Paisley, have already suggested that the deal potentially does not go far enough to address their concerns over trade and sovereignty.
The immediate future of devolution at Stormont rests on whether the DUP agrees to go back into power sharing.
London and Brussels are both keen to see the institution restored ahead of next month’s landmark 25th anniversary of the Good Friday peace agreement.
Sir Jeffrey said the panel comprises individuals with “political, legal, and business experience.”
Its members are DUP MP Carla Lockhart, DUP peer Lord Weir, former DUP leaders and Stormont first ministers Robinson and Baroness Foster, businessman Ross Reed, lawyer John McBurney, and DUP MLAs Brian Kingston and Deborah Erskine.
Botched Decisions
The announcement comes just hours after Sunak’s post-Brexit deal with the EU was branded “just a case of the government clearing up its own mess.”Shadow chancellor and Labour frontbencher Rachel Reeves mocked the prime minister’s comments that his agreement put Northern Ireland “in the unbelievably special position” of accessing both the EU and British markets, saying, “I didn’t know he was such a fan of the single market.”
But the MP for Leeds West rejected reopening the Brexit referendum debate, saying, “We’re not going to be going back into the single market or customs union and Labour have been clear about that as well.”
She said her party is “proposing practical changes and improvements that could be won in a short space of time rather than years more of negotiations which I don’t think is in our country’s interest.”
Reeves warned that businesses across the UK are “still dealing with botched decisions” almost seven years since the Brexit vote, branding it “a total mess.”
Referring to the prime minister’s Windsor Framework, she said: “Obviously we welcome the fact that the government have secured changes to the [Northern Ireland] protocol.
“The protocol was not working. Boris Johnson said back in 2019 that he had an oven ready deal, he had nothing of the sort and here we are almost seven years after the vote to leave the EU happened, still dealing with botched decisions since then.
“So we welcome the fact that there’s improvements to the protocol but it is just a case of the government clearing up its own mess.”
Governance Change
On Sunday, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris said the government could consider changes to governance in the region if some in the unionist community do not accept Sunak’s EU deal.He told Sky News that he is focused on clarifying details in the Windsor Framework for members of the DUP and others who are still considering whether to support it, before looking at other steps forward.
Heaton-Harris also said he hopes to be able to “cunningly persuade” Johnson to back the deal in a Commons vote, replacing the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed by the former prime minister.
Johnson has publicly criticised the deal, claiming he would find it “very hard” to support.
Asked by Sky News what would happen if the DUP does not back the deal, Heaton-Harris said he is working to “clarify all the questions” from the unionist community.
He added: “I would like to think that at that point we will be able to get the executive up and running, but I have already, in fact last week we were passing legislation through Parliament, the Executive Formation Act, which allows me to have the opportunity to call elections at any point during the next year should that be required.
“There are other routes forward, and we need to do things on governance if that is the case.
“However, I am a glass half full man, I believe we can get this right. The Windsor Framework is an amazing leap forward. I do think it actually delivers on all the questions that have been asked.”
Pressed on whether he would put a timeframe on another Stormont election, Heaton-Harris said, “I have learned from previous lessons in Northern Ireland that you don’t set timeframes, and even if you have one in your mind you would never give it publicly.”
Asked about Johnson’s criticism of the Windsor Framework, the senior Cabinet minister said: “I was his chief whip so I’d like to think by the time we get to vote I’d have cunningly persuaded him that he actually needs to vote for the deal.
“Boris is a law unto himself in many ways. But he is a great man, a wise man, an honest man, and I believe he will come to see that it is a good idea.”
Heaton-Harris also suggested the framework would allow Northern Ireland to fully feel the benefits of any future UK trade deals.
“I think we can,” he responded when asked if he could guarantee businesses and people in Northern Ireland would be full participants in future trade agreements.
While Heaton-Harris remained positive about convincing the DUP, Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O’Neill suggested future governance in Northern Ireland could involve a joint arrangement between the UK and Irish governments if the unionist party does not return to Stormont.
According to PA, a spokesman for the Northern Ireland Office later made clear that the government was not considering any changes to the power sharing arrangements created by the Good Friday Agreement or joint authority with the Irish government.
