Jim Allister asks DUP if it is ready to collapse Northern Ireland's government again if demand over Stormont Brake is snubbed

The TUV MP made the comments following the announcement from the DUP on Thursday that it was going to deploy the mechanism for the very first time.

Meanwhile the SDLP denounced the DUP’s pulling of the Stormont Brake as a mere “stunt”, being undertaken for “crude partisan purposes”.

The Stormont Brake is part of the Windsor Framework which was agreed between the EU and UK government last February, paving the way for the DUP to go back into government after its two-year boycott.

In short, it means that if 30 MLAs object to a new piece of EU regulation which is due to come into force, then they can request that the UK government vetoes it.

The 30 MLAs must not all be from the same party.

In this case, the DUP (with 25 MLAs) is set to join forces with the UUP (nine MLAs) and TUV (one MLA) in triggering the brake.

The new rule being objected to is about the way chemicals will have to be labelled when going from GB to Northern Ireland.

Speaking last year about the Stormont Brake, the then-DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson had touted that “what we’ve secured” was a mechanism that means “EU law no longer automatically applies in Northern Ireland”.

"We have cut the pipeline” of new EU laws, he claimed.

However, critics of the Stormont Brake point out that it is studded with caveats (for example, MLAs are forbidden from using it for “trivial” purposes), and that the UK government can still decide to ignore the brake being pulled and just let the new EU rule go through anyway.

Speaking on the Nolan Show yesterday, Mr Allister posed the question: "If it proves to be of no value, then what does the DUP do then?

"Because, having told us they've cut the pipeline [of EU laws], having told us they've devised a mechanism that could stop EU law, if it proves they can't and the Stormont Brake does not work, then what do they do?

"Do they simply return to being colonial implementers of foreign law?

"Or do they take a stand and say 'this is an Assembly which, when it can be over-ridden by foreign jurisdiction, is an Assembly not worth having in those circumstances'...

"It's up to the government whether they will take heed of the expression of opposition by over 30 MLAs to this colonial rule from Brussels.

"And if they do, then they have the capacity to stop it ultimately, though it's a protracted process.

"If they don't, then it will be roughshod put upon the people of Northern Ireland.

"That's why I come back to the point: if the Stormont Brake deal was to be ineffective, and useless in that regard, what's the DUP going to do then? That's the real question.

"Now is a moment of truth, as to whether or not the Stormont Brake amounts to what he [Jeffrey Donaldson] claims it amounts, and cuts the pipeline. I don't believe it does but we'll soon know."

He added: "If we are put in a position where it is demonstrably clear that we are the serfs of Stormont, implementing foreign EU jurisdiction with no right to stop it and no capacity to stop it, then the DUP has to answer the question: are they prepared to be those serfs, or is Stormont then not worth the candle that it's suggested?”

SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole condemned the use of the Stormont Brake yesterday, saying: “We warned that the so-called Stormont brake would be used for crude partisan purposes and so it has proven.

"Where there are issues with this EU law, we certainly support efforts to smooth and mitigate their implementation and will engage with both the EU and UK on that basis.

"But the idea that this is going to cause persistent harm to the people of NI is unsustainable and wrong-headed.”

Speaking on Thursday, UUP MLA Steve Aiken had said that it was backing the pulling of the brake “because the safeguard process that should be the Windsor Framework Democratic Scrutiny Committee has demonstrably failed”.

“Bizarrely, the committee which was supposed to prevent having to use the Stormont Brake had ignored the implications of this regulation, despite the concerns of industry,” he said.