Sammy Wilson: Rwanda judgement has potential 'serious implications' for NI - and will test UK government commitments to Parliament

That is the view of the DUP MP Sammy Wilson – as the High Court rules today on whether aspects of the legislation are legally enforceable here because of the Windsor Framework (WF) .

Concerns have been raised previously – including by DUP leader Gavin Robinson – that EU rights applicable in Northern Ireland under the post-Brexit deal would hinder government legislation such as the Illegal Migration Act.

The government maintains that the legislation will apply to all of the UK. But Sammy Wilson said: “This will be a test as to the commitment made by the government” in a debate in parliament. He said the government assured MPs that “NI would not be treated any differently” and that EU rights obligations under the WF did not apply in this case because it is a national decision.

He said if the government’s position is rejected by the court and the WF does stop the immigration laws fully applying here, it will have “serious implications” for NI – including the possibility of the province becoming a magnet for immigration and controls on people travelling from NI into Great Britain.

The Windsor Framework affects much more than the trade in goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as it guarantees certain EU rights here post-Brexit.

Earlier this year, a High Court judgment in Belfast on the government’s controversial legacy act contradicted a claim in the ‘Safeguarding the Union’ deal struck with the DUP that the Windsor Framework applies only to trading goods.

The document adds that “the vast majority of public policy is entirely untouched by it”.

The legacy judgment said that two parts of the legislation are “incompatible with … article 2 of the Windsor Framework and should be disapplied”. These included the government’s attempts to exclude evidence from legal proceedings and the prohibition of criminal enforcement action.

Loyalist anti-protocol activist Jamie Bryson – who warned of the effect of the WF on legislation here – said yesterday the government had always denied it would affect UK laws here.

“If the High Court tomorrow – in what is a significant constitutional moment – follows previous judgments and rules the protocol does override the Rwanda Bill in respect of Northern Ireland then the Irish Sea trade border will become the Irish Sea trade and immigration border, and another key plank of the Donaldson Deal will be exposed as fundamentally false”.

He said the DUP “own” government claims as they endorsed the “Surrendering the Union document”.