DUP Says It Will Vote Against New UK–EU Deal on Post-Brexit Trading in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson (C) speaks to members of the media outside the Culloden Hotel near Belfast, on Feb. 17, 2023. Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will vote against the UK government on the new UK–EU deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said.

The so-called Windsor Framework—which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreed with the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month—aims to solve the dispute between the UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol by significantly reducing the number of post-Brexit checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a press conference at the Guildhall in Windsor, Berkshire, on Feb. 27, 2023, following the announcement that they have struck a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol. PA Media

On Wednesday, British MPs will vote on regulations to implement the so-called “Stormont brake,” a key part of the framework that would allow a minority of lawmakers in the Northern Ireland Assembly to flag concerns about the imposition of new EU laws in the British province—a move that could lead to a UK government veto.

On Monday, Donaldson said party officers had unanimously agreed to vote against the government in the first parliamentary vote on the new Brexit deal.

He said that DUP members of the House of Commons will vote against the measures in the context of the party’s “ongoing concerns and the need to see further progress secured.”

Donaldson said while the Windsor Framework represented “significant progress” in addressing concerns with the Northern Ireland Protocol, it does not deal with some of the “fundamental problems at the heart of our current difficulties.”

“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,” he added.

The DUP leader said that “there remain key areas of concern which require further clarification, reworking, and change as well as seeing further legal text.”

He said his party will “continue to work with the government on all the outstanding issues relating to the Windsor Framework package to try to restore the delicate political balances within Northern Ireland and to seek to make further progress on all these matters.”

Undated photo of Parliament Buildings, often referred to as Stormont, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK. Paul Faith/PA

Stormont Brake

The UK government and the European Commission unveiled the Windsor Framework on Feb. 27 after months of intensive negotiations aimed at reducing checks on Irish Sea trade created by the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit withdrawal deal.

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 Stormont brake, which Sunak said puts the region in a “special” position, allowing Northern Ireland politicians to oppose new EU goods rules.

The “brake” offers a minority of MLAs—30 from at least two parties—the 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.

Wilson—the DUP’s chief whip in the Westminster Parliament, said earlier this month: “The Stormont brake is not really a brake at all. It’s a delaying mechanism.”

Paisley, another DUP MP, said in an interview on Monday, “It is the old substance dressed up in a new package with a ribbon around it, but it hasn’t actually changed, or addressed the fundamental issue of Northern Ireland trade being disrupted in our internal UK market.”

Peace Deal Anniversary

Northern Ireland has not had a functioning local government at Stormont for over a year since the DUP withdrew from the power-sharing executive in protest at the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

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.

Earlier on Monday, Downing Street defended the government’s deal, stressing the importance of protecting the Good Friday Agreement.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This framework secures changes which many individuals and groups said weren’t possible. The Stormont brake is chief among them.

“With regard to EU regulation, these have been reduced right down to the very minimum level to ensure there is no border on the island of Ireland.

“I think that is the overriding priority of all parties in protecting and securing the Good Friday Agreement.”

Patricia Devlin and PA Media contributed to this report.