The Northern Ireland Assembly voted on whether to adopt a new EU law in the country, which has split the parties. The unionist parties were opposed to the implementation of the new rule concerning the protection of geographical indications, while Sinn Féin, Alliance, and the SDLP supported it. The UK government will determine whether to introduce or veto the new law on its own since the automatic application of the law is not possible without cross-community consent from the unionists and nationalists via the democratic consent processes in the Windsor Framework.
The use of the applicability motion mechanism, under the Windsor Framework – the special Brexit deal, allows the Northern Irish Assembly to declare its willingness or opposition to the application of new or amended EU laws. A majority of the unionists rejected the new EU law on the grounds that it would create a new regulatory border within the UK. The DUP was one of the unionist parties that voted against the law. The UUP leader, Doug Beattie, voiced skepticism about the new rule, stating that he could not vote in favor of it without proper scrutiny.
Other parties such as Sinn Féin, Alliance, and the SDLP supported the motion, even though Philip McGuigan, chair of the Assembly’s Windsor Framework democratic scrutiny committee, called it a “sham fight,” focusing on party politics rather than Northern Ireland’s interests. The adoption of new EU laws in Northern Ireland is a matter for the UK government. In the case of the new EU law, the UK government could veto it since the assembly has not given its cross-party consent for the law’s application via the applicability motion.
The assessment conducted by the government prior to the vote suggested that the new regulation could mean that some products legally marketed in Great Britain could not be moved to Northern Ireland and sold in the same way. The government stressed that the effect of the law would be “limited,” but the DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson opined that it could affect trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, leading to new checks at Northern Ireland ports
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