NI Protocol: Stormont Brake clears Commons vote despite DUP and Tory MPs opposition

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's new deal on post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland has cleared its first Commons test despite opposition from some Tory MPs and the DUP.

MPs voted 515 to 29, majority 486, in favour of regulations to implement the Stormont brake section of the Windsor Framework.

Tory former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss said they would be voting against the Government ahead of the debate.

The European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs also said it was "strongly recommending" its members oppose the regulations.

Labour offered its backing and division list analysis will show how many Tories voted against.

The brake mechanism would allow a minority of MLAs in the Stormont Assembly to formally flag concerns about the imposition of new EU laws in Northern Ireland - a move that could see the UK Government veto their introduction in the region.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, ahead of the vote, told MPs: "Without this measure, Northern Ireland would continue to have full and automatic dynamic alignment with EU goods rules with no say for the Northern Ireland Assembly and no veto for amending or replacing those measures.

"That is an intolerable situation and I urge all MPs to vote to end that full and automatic dynamic alignment."

Mr Heaton-Harris said the EU could initiate a dispute if it believed the UK had improperly used the brake.

But he earlier explained: "We need to be clear that any dispute could only arise after the rules have been disapplied in Northern Ireland and the resolution of that dispute would be for an arbitration panel. The European Court of Justice would have no role in resolving that dispute."

But Tory former minister Mark Francois, who chairs the ERG, asked Mr Heaton-Harris to accept the Stormont brake is not a "veto" but a "route to arbitration".

DUP MP Jim Shannon said the Windsor Framework was being "shoved" through Parliament and questioned the Conservatives' commitment to the union.

He called the deal the "Windsor knot", adding: "The United Kingdom gives the EU sovereignty over the courts and power over Northern Ireland."

Tory former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith said: "I believe if we can bank the wins in this deal and secure over time stable powersharing, then we can look forward to decades and decades of overwhelming support for Northern Ireland remaining an integral part of the United Kingdom."

The DUP is currently blocking devolution at Stormont in protest at the terms of the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

The protocol was designed to prevent a hardening of the land border on the island of Ireland and moved regulatory and customs checks to the Irish Sea, creating economic barriers on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The UK and EU agreed the framework as a way to cut the red tape created by the protocol.

What is the Windsor Framework?

The proposed agreement relates to goods crossing the Irish Sea from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

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