What is the Stormont Brake in Windsor Framework?
Curious about Stormont Brake and its function? This unique mechanism is an element of the Windsor Framework that empowers Northern Ireland to amend or block the European Union rules that apply to Northern Ireland.
It makes changes to the Northern Ireland protocols. NI was previously required to stay aligned with the EU regulations altogether in multiple areas, including VAT, product regulation, the environment, and agriculture.
This blog post is intended to give you a complete understanding of Stormont Brake.
Who can trigger a Stormont Brake?
The Stormont Brake can be triggered if the 30 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLAs) from at least two parties notify the UK Government that they want an emergency brake on specific EU law.
This threshold is similar to the petition of concern threshold, which is a mechanism in Northern Ireland’s power sharing framework that facilitates the cross-community agreement on sensitive matters.
This dual-party requirement helps prevent any single political group from monopolising the process.
How can Stormont Brake be triggered?
To trigger the Stormont Brake, the MLAs must satisfy the following conditions:
1. Exceptional and last resort use
The Stormont Brake must be used rarely. It ought to be activated only in the most dire situations, when all other avenues of resolving issues have failed.
2. Comprehensive discussion process
Before considering Stormont Brake, MLAs must first look for other routes to resolve the issue. They should go for substantive discussion with:
- Stakeholders
- Northern Ireland Executive
- UK government
Through these discussions, we aim to reach a mutually agreeable solution and prevent the need to apply the brake whenever possible.
3. Substantial impact on Northern Ireland
The proposed law or amendment by the MLAs must significantly differ from the original regulation and have an immediate, profound, and long-lasting effect on Northern Ireland. In addition to being immediate, this effect has to be long-lasting.
What happens when the Stormont Brake is applied?
Once the Stormont Brake is applied, the government must assess the legitimacy of the action. The government looks over the MLAs’ explanation and determines if the requirements for applying the brake have been satisfied.
If the UK government agrees that all the conditions are fulfilled, the European Union law is blocked or paused in Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, if the government determines that the requirements are not fulfilled, the proposed EU act will remain active in Northern Ireland.
This review process ensures that Stormont Brake is used for legitimate, locally significant issues rather than being abused for political purposes.
The bottom line
The Windsor Framework introduces the “Stormont Brake” to strengthen the UK government’s handling of the NI protocols and reduce its reliance on the EU. The Brake can be applied to updates or amendments to EU laws applying in Northern Ireland that fall under the Windsor Framework rather than new laws.
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