Windsor Framework: DUP re-states doubts about the deal ahead of major vote as TUV wonders if Rishi Sunak is 'running away from a real debate'

Meanwhile TUV leader Jim Allister has voiced fears that Rishi Sunak is intent on “running away” from a proper, full debate on the entire contents of his framework, and instead plans on confining scrutiny to that one aspect of the deal alone for now.

It emerged on Thursday that a statutory instrument will be brought before the Commons next week, setting out the legal mechanics of how the Stormont Brake will work.

The actual text will be published on Monday, with a debate / vote following on Wednesday.

It will be the first parliamentary test the Windsor Framework will have faced.

The vote will come one day after it is expected the European Council will give its formal blessing to the new deal thrashed out late last month between the EU and UK, which is aimed at mollifying unionist critics of the Protocol..

The DUP told the News Letter on Thursday night: “Earlier this week the party leader set out our initial assessment of the Windsor Framework, and the fact there remains key areas of concern which require further clarification, re-working and change.

"The party will examine the statutory instrument when it is laid.”

This echoes the wording of statement issued earlier in the week by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, casting doubt on the viability of the deal.

A statutory instrument is a form of secondary legislation, which generally exists to fill in specific details of a bigger, over-arching act of Parliament.

The brake itself was cited by Mr Sunak as a core component of his new deal with the EU when he announced it on February 27.

Its basic outline is this:

Under the Stormont Brake arrangements, the existing plan to let Stormont vote every four to eight years on whether the Protocol should remain in force would continue.

This arrangement had angered unionists, because it was to be done on a majority vote basis; in other words, the anti-Protocol unionist bloc in Stormont would probably never have enough clout to defeat the pro-Protocol bloc, made up of Sinn Fein, SDLP, and Alliance.

The Stormont Brake adds to this arrangement by letting a group of MLAs object to any individual “non-trivial” new or amended EU laws before they take effect in Northern Ireland (though there is no definition of what exactly “trivial” means).

If 30 MLAs (drawn from two parties, or one party plus at least one independent) sign a petition, then this will signal to the London government that a new or amended piece of EU law is a problem, and needs to be vetoed.

There has been some confusion in recent weeks on the extent to which the government would be obliged to do exactly as the MLAs ask, and halt the new law.

After being told on Thursday that the Commons will vote on the Stormont Brake, DUP MP Sammy Wilson responded that he was “pleased”.

"It would have been helpful if the statutory instrument could have been published this week for proper consideration,” he said.

"Regardless of that, we welcome the debate.

"I am sure that she will be aware that in Washington this week, my leader indicated that the Windsor framework still does not address many of the difficulties caused by the Northern Ireland protocol.

"In particular, the Stormont brake is inadequate because it does not ensure that MLAs in Northern Ireland can stop the application of EU law.

"There are still 300 areas of EU law that will apply to Northern Ireland, even after the Windsor Framework, and the European Court of Justice will still adjudicate on them.

"Will the Leader of the House ensure that adequate answers are given by the Ministers responsible, explaining the difference between the rhetoric and the reality of the framework document?”

The Leader of the House, Tory MP Penny Mordaunt, responded that these were “important points” and that it will make for “an important debate”.

With Labour having made clear they will support the deal in Parliament, the statutory instrument is expected to pass comfortably.

But even so, it could lead to the prospect of a section of Tory backbench MPs rebelling against the government if they and the DUP decide the statutory instrument is not something they can support.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said the instrument will not be amendable by MPs.

He also said other such instruments will be needed to implement other parts of the framework, which would also require the backing of Parliament.

TUV leader Mr Allister told the News Letter: “In terms of the content of the statutory instrument, it’ll be interesting to see what it actually says.

"We can’t comment on that until Monday when we see it, but I doubt very much it’ll live up to the billing.

"The Prime Minister so over-sold it as a veto for Stormont – which it patently will not be.

"But we’ll see in the fine print of it just exactly how worthless it probably is.”

James Heale, political correspondent of The Spectator magazine, reported that “Downing Street have today said that they regard Wednesday’s vote as the defining one on the deal”.

He goes on to quote a Prime Ministerial spokesman as saying: “We said Parliament would have its say on the framework.

"This vote honours the Prime Minister’s commitment to provide MPs with the opportunity to vote on the new arrangements.”

If Mr Sunak does decide to treat the positive outcome of the vote as a de facto endorsement of the Windsor Framework deal as a whole, Mr Allister said: “I think he’ll be breaking a promise which I understood the Prime Minister to make, that there’d be a full parliamentary debate on the Windsor Framework.

"This is a Prime Minister who ran away from being questioned by the European Scrutiny Committee.

"Is he now running away from a full debate on his over-sold deal?”