A new post-Brexit trading arrangement for Northern Ireland has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle after MPs voted in its favour.
Despite opposition from some Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), 515 politicians voted in favour of implementing the new Windsor Framework’s “Stormont brake”—with 29 opposing the UK-EU agreed mechanism.
In total, 22 Conservatives rebelled to vote against the Stormont brake regulations.
They included former party chairman Sir Jake Berry, former Cabinet minister Simon Clarke, and former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss—both of whom had earlier signalled their intention to do so.
Six DUP MPs, along with independent MP Andrew Bridgen, also opposed the regulations.
Ahead of Wednesday afternoon’s vote, the European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs said it was “strongly recommending” its members oppose the regulations.
Labour unanimously voted in favour of the Windsor Framework mechanism, which would allow a minority of lawmakers in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont to formally flag concerns about the imposition of new EU laws in Northern Ireland—a move that could see the UK government veto their introduction in the region.
Welcoming the result, Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said the Stormont brake lay at the “very heart” of the new deal that offers “the best” for the province.
“By voting in favour of the Stormont brake, we have voted to ensure that the people of Northern Ireland, through a restored executive, will have full democratic input to the laws that apply to them,” he said.
‘Windsor Knot’
Prior to the significant vote, DUP politicians fiercely criticised the Windsor Framework mechanism, with one dubbing it a “Stormont fake.”East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson told the House of Commons: “The truth is, this is not a Stormont brake, it is a Stormont fake.
“It should be rejected by this House. It doesn’t project the union, it doesn’t protect democracy in Northern Ireland, and it will not get the Assembly back and running again.”
DUP MP Jim Shannon said the Windsor Framework was being “shoved” through Parliament and questioned the Conservatives’ commitment to the union.
He called the deal the “Windsor knot,” adding, “The United Kingdom gives the EU sovereignty over the courts and power over Northern Ireland.”
There were also clashes on the Tory benches as Chris Clarkson accused a fellow Conservative of a “pathological denial of reality.”
He was referring to veteran Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash—chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee—who earlier said laws made in the EU “still apply to and subjugate the people of Northern Ireland to the EU and not to the rest of the UK.”
Conservative MP John Baron said the new framework not only “restores the balance of the Belfast Agreement” but also “offers the province much greater prosperity by way of inward investment, and greater prosperity helps most situations.”
Former Conservative minister Mark Francois—who chairs the ERG—challenged the Northern Ireland secretary to accept the Stormont brake is not a “veto” but a “route to arbitration.”
But former Tory Cabinet minister Dame Andrea Leadsom praised the deal’s “huge opportunity” for Northern Ireland that would make it “the target of enormous amounts of foreign direct investment” with “the advantage of being an integral part of the UK.”
Julian Smith, a former Conservative Northern Ireland Secretary, also voiced his support for the Windsor Framework.
He told MPs, “I believe if we can bank the wins in this deal and secure over time stable power-sharing, then we can look forward to decades and decades of overwhelming support for Northern Ireland remaining an integral part of the United Kingdom.”
DUP Blockade
In a statement released to the media following the vote, a government spokesperson welcomed the Parliament’s backing for the Stormont brake.“We are pleased the House of Commons has endorsed the Windsor Framework and agreed the legislation to enact the Stormont brake—the most significant part of the Windsor Framework,” the statement read.
“The Stormont brake puts power back into the hands of Stormont and Westminster, ending the automatic alignment and ratchet effect of new EU law in Northern Ireland that would exist without it.”
The spokesperson added that the Windsor Framework is a “turning point for the people of Northern Ireland” which will “ensure the smooth flow of internal UK trade, safeguard NI’s place in the union, and address the democratic deficit.”
Wednesday’s vote is the first step in turning Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s newly negotiated EU deal into reality, despite the opposition from Northern Ireland’s biggest unionist party, the DUP.
Led by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the political party is currently blocking the formation of a government in Northern Ireland in protest at the terms of the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.
Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon, Sir Jeffrey again reiterated that his party would not commit to “restore the political institutions.”
He told MPs: “I want Stormont restored on a sustainable basis, on a stable basis where there is cross-community consent and consensus. That does not exist at the moment.”
The DUP leader said his party will continue to “work intensively to solve these issues ... in the knowledge that what has already been achieved has been because we were not prepared to accept the undermining of Northern Ireland’s place within the union of the United Kingdom.”
In response, First Minister Designate Michelle O’Neill called for an end to the “shameful” DUP boycott and for the executive to be immediately restored.
“The onus is on the British and Irish governments and all parties—not least the DUP—to now get Stormont moving,” O’Neill said on Wednesday.
“It’s time to move forward. We need to see the assembly and executive working now to address the problems in our health service and deliver for business, for workers, and families.
The Sinn Fein vice-president added that Northern Ireland now has “unprecedented economic opportunities” to strengthen the economy and “create more and better jobs.”
“Further blocking the formation of an executive will only deepen the chaos caused by Brexit and discourage international investors,” she added.
Lifting Economic Barriers
The Northern Ireland Protocol—which was designed to prevent a hardening of the land border on the island of Ireland—moved regulatory and customs checks to the Irish Sea, creating economic barriers to the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.The newly negotiated Windsor Framework aims to significantly reduce checks on these economic barriers.
In a two-tier system, goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain would either go through a green lane or a red lane.
Goods that will remain in Northern Ireland would pass through the green lane, which would see paperwork and checks scrapped, while goods that may be sent on to the EU would go through the red lane and would still be subject to checks.
Bans on certain products and medications entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain would also be removed, with the province no longer having to follow certain EU rules.
The UK and EU agreed on the framework as a way to cut the red tape created by the protocol.
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