The UK government has refused a request by Stormont’s unionist parties to trigger a post-Brexit mechanism, known as the Stormont Brake, to prevent a European Union law coming into force in Northern Ireland.
Unionist MLAs had backed a DUP motion before Christmas to pull the brake in a bid to stop new EU rules on packaging and labelling of chemicals, such as house cleaning materials and industrial chemicals.
On Monday, Northern Secretary Hilary Benn announced that legal tests had not been met to use the mechanism, which is contained in the UK and EU’s Windsor Framework deal.
The UK government said the EU legislation being challenged does not meet the threshold of having a “significant impact specific to everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland in a way that is liable to persist”.
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The brake was designed to give MLAs a greater say before amended EU rules take effect in the North.
This was the first time it had been tested since powersharing returned almost a year ago and the outcome will be seen as a blow to unionism.
DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the UK’s government’s decision was “wrong on this occasion” and accused it of “surrendering to EU diktats in the absence of a coherent or credible plan”.
“The Secretary of State’s decision to ignore publicly presented evidence from industry representatives about the updated EU law (Regulation 2024/2865) on chemical labelling is a grave mistake that will exacerbate trade friction between Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” he said.
Mr Benn wrote to the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Edwin Poots, on Monday to outline reasons for his government’s decision, pointing out that labelling requirements for chemicals in Northern Ireland are already different from the rest of the UK, because it is a devolved matter.
The Windsor Framework, and its predecessor the Northern Ireland (NI) Protocol, require checks and customs paperwork on goods moving from Britain into Northern Ireland.
Under the arrangements, which were designed to ensure no hardening of the Border post-Brexit, the North continues to follow many EU trade and customs rules.
The brake allows a minimum of Stormont MLAs, from at least two parties, to refer a proposed EU law change to the UK government, which then decides if it will be triggered.
If the UK government had ruled that the brake should be pulled, it would have directly engaged with the EU to find a solution.
Earlier this month, Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the use of the mechanism had the potential to disrupt post-Brexit trading systems. – Additional reporting by PA
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