Windsor Framework and the Stormont brake: Utterly ridiculous for anybody to think that 30 MLAs could veto EU regulations, says SDLP leader Colum Eastwood

MPs will vote on the mechanism in Westminster on Wednesday, while the Democratic Unionist Party has already voiced its intention to vote against the Windsor Framework proposal.

“I think it’s utterly ridiculous for anybody to think that 30 MLAs in Northern Ireland would be able to veto European regulations. That’s madness,” Mr Eastwood said on Good Morning Ulster.

“I think the Stormont brake is a bad idea anyway, I think it muddies the water in terms of our investment proposition.”

Mr Eastwood said Northern Ireland would benefit from dual market access.

Commenting on the DUP’s position on the Stormont brake, Mr Eastwood said: “I don’t really understand what the DUP were expecting was going to happen. They can have their position on this if they want, but the deal is done, it is absolutely clear.

“They’re going to find that tomorrow when the British Government vote this through anyway, the deal is done. There is no more negotiating to be done.

“What people really want to know, not how the DUP are going to vote tomorrow, but when they’re going to nominate a deputy first minister and get back into government.”

Mr Eastwood also addressed concerns raised by members of his own party about the democratic deficit created by the Windsor Framework.

“The best way to fix the democratic deficit is going back into the European Union, but the idea that a devolved assembly or 30 members of it would be setting EU regulations is just bonkers, frankly, and anybody who thinks otherwise, I don’t know what planet they’re living on,” he said.

He added that the SDLP have not decided their position for Wednesday’s vote: “We’ll either vote for it or abstain, we’ll make that decision today.”