BELFAST (Reuters) – Northern Ireland’s largest two unionist parties said on Thursday they intend for the first time to trigger a mechanism included in post-Brexit arrangements that could allow them to stop the application of a European Union law in the British-run region.
Northern Ireland remained in the EU single market for goods when the rest of the UK left the European Union in order to keep open the politically sensitive border with EU-member Ireland, necessitating specific arrangements to limit frictions on trade with Britain.
Under the February 2023 Windsor Framework agreement, London was given the ability to stop the application of amendments to EU law in Northern Ireland if requested by a third of lawmakers from at least two parties in Belfast’s regional assembly.
The Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party said on Thursday they would trigger the so-called “Stormont Brake” in relation to EU rules on the packaging and labelling of chemicals.
The changes that the DUP said would introduce new minimum font sizes and rules around spacing would not be required for similar products in the rest of the United Kingdom.
“With trade flows in chemicals between Great Britain and Northern Ireland worth in the region of 1 billion pounds ($1.25 billion) annually, the impact of this divergence would be significant,” DUP leader Gavin Robinson said in a statement.
The British government must judge if the contested rule would have “a significant impact specific to everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland in a way that is liable to persist” to stop its application in the region.
It can then only be subsequently applied if the UK and EU both agree to do so either with the support of Northern Irish politicians, if they are satisfied it would not create a new regulatory border between Britain and Northern Ireland, or in “exceptional circumstances”. ($1 = 0.7981 pounds)
(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin, Editing by Alex Richardson)
