Irish unionists reject to support new deal on Northern Ireland Protocol

LONDON

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will vote against the British premier's Brexit deal, Windsor Framework, the party head announced on Monday.

In a written DUP statement, Jeffrey Donaldson said while the Windsor Framework represents "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."

He said the party officers, the only decision-making mechanism in DUP, in a Monday morning meeting "unanimously agreed that in the context of our ongoing concerns and the need to see further progress secured whilst continuing to seek clarification, change and re-working that our Members of Parliament would vote against the draft statutory instrument on Wednesday."

Donaldson also said they will continue to work with the government about the issues relating to the Windsor Framework package to try to restore the "delicate political balances" within Northern Ireland.

"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 Windsor Framework seeks to keep Northern Ireland within the EU's trade rules while reducing inspections of some goods crossing the Irish Sea from the rest of the UK. Goods bound for Ireland from the UK will still be subject to customs processes while those remaining in the north will not face routine checks.

The Stormont brake – named after the Northern Ireland Assembly, often called Stormont – enables the UK to veto new EU goods laws if they are not backed by both communities in Northern Ireland.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said last month that the Stormont brake "puts democracy and sovereignty back in Northern Ireland where it belongs."

There are eight members of parliament from DUP in the 650-seat House of Commons.