Starmer
faces first major Brexit test as unionists request Stormont brake
UK
government has been asked to veto EU law update applying in Northern Ireland
relating to chemical labelling
Lisa
O'Carroll in Dublin
Fri 20 Dec
2024 12.36 GMT
Keir Starmer
is facing his first major test over Brexit after unionists in Northern Ireland
decided to pull what is known as the Stormont brake on EU laws due to apply in
the region.
Unionist
parties and independents decided to come together to exercise their right to
object to an update in EU legislation that would apply to labelling on
chemicals. By pulling the brake, they invite the UK government to veto a EU law
applying in Northern Ireland.
“It will be
a big test for the British government,” said Katy Hayward, professor of
political sociology at Queen’s University Belfast and an expert on the Windsor
framework, the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol. “If it agrees to trigger
the brake, it is accepting in principle that EU legislation updates can have ‘a
significant impact specific to everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland
in a way that is liable to persist’ – and that such an impact was only
prevented by the actions of a minority of MLAs [members of the legislative
assembly].
“On the
other hand, to reject the request will be to directly contradict the stance of
all unionist MLAs on the matter, which will further fan unionist narratives of
‘betrayal’.”
Under the
rules, 30 members of the legislative assembly in Stormont from different
parties are required to sign the Stormont brake.
The
Democratic Unionist party, with 25 MLAs, has been backed in its mission to pull
the brake by eight Ulster Unionist MLAs, the Traditional Unionist Voice party’s
MLA, Jim Allister, and the independent unionist Claire Sugden.
The DUP
leader, Gavin Robinson, said: “The DUP is focused on fully restoring Northern
Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and its internal market. We have made no
secret of the fact that we will use the Stormont brake to full effect in the
pursuit of our overall objectives.”
The new laws
opposed by the DUP are an update on EU rules on the labelling of chemicals,
including new minimum font sizes and rules around spacing of lines of text. The
Chemical Industries Association has said they will have a significant impact on
Northern Ireland, as the changes would not be required for Great Britain and
some companies may decide not to produce two sets of labels, leaving some
products unavailable in Northern Ireland.
Under the
Windsor framework agreed by the UK’s former prime minister Rishi Sunak and the
European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, EU trade laws must be
observed on any goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain which are at
risk of entering the Republic of Ireland – and therefore the EU – unless it can
be proved the laws are causing persistent societal damage.
Sunak and
von der Leyen agreed to give the Northern Ireland assembly the power to
disapply rules that would be damaging to the local community under this
so-called Stormont brake.
Unionists
have previously criticised the brake as a meaningless concession, as it is the
London government along with the EU that will take the ultimate decision as to
whether any EU laws should not apply in Northern Ireland. Under the rules they
must notify the northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, before a deadline of 6
January that they are applying the brake.
Benn must
then decide whether the arguments satisfy the conditions laid out in the
Windsor framework. If the conditions are met, he must then refer it to the
EU-UK joint committee that oversees the overall Brexit withdrawal agreement,
and is led by the cabinet minister Nick Thomas-Symonds and the European
Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič.
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