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British ministers have informed political parties in Northern Ireland of their plans to take over implementation of the Windsor framework, after the impasse at Stormont made parts of the post-Brexit deal unworkable for months.
Eoin Tennyson, Alliance Party member of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Upper Bann, said during an interview with BBC Radio Ulster on Tuesday morning that his party had been present during discussions that confirmed the British government would “take power ‘ to the post-Brexit treaty that is in force.
Northern Ireland has been without a power-sharing government since early 2022. The region’s second-largest party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), is refusing to take seats in its political institutions in protest at post-Brexit trade arrangements with Britain, which it argues will replace Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom is being undermined. This has meant that officials in Northern Ireland have not been given the necessary leadership to implement crucial parts of the Windsor framework.
Discussions are currently taking place between Downing Street, the Foreign Office and the Northern Ireland Office about the best way for the British government to give itself the necessary powers.
PoliticsHome reported last week that the government had drawn up plans to take unilateral control of the treaty’s rollout, as the absence of devolved ministers at Stormont had hampered elements of its implementation.
The government has struggled in particular to implement parts of the treaty relating to checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, which would normally be handled by the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, as there are no ministers in post to direct Stormont officials to carry out the necessary work.
The NIO last week informed the Alliance and the region’s other political parties of its plans to take control of the rollout of Rishi Sunak’s deal. PoliticsHome understands.
According to Tennyson, who was not present at the meeting but whose Alliance colleagues were there, British government officials told the Northern Ireland parties that they would take the necessary steps to implement the Windsor framework in the absence of devolved ministers at Stormont .
“The British government will take over to enable them to carry out some of the implementation around the Windsor framework as agreed,” he told the British newspaper The Guardian. BBCby Stephen Nolan.
“Like different elements of it [the framework] will come into force in October and someone will have to take responsibility for its implementation next year. In the absence of an Assembly, it is logical that the British government would want to take over these powers.”
Prime Minister Sunak agreed the Windsor Framework with the European Union earlier this year as a way to reduce trade barriers between Northern Ireland and Britain created by the original Northern Ireland Protocol, negotiated by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says the Windsor deal is an improvement on the original protocol but still does not address all his party’s concerns about Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.
He has called on the government to provide further guarantees for Northern Ireland’s place in Britain in the form of legislation, which the government is expected to publish early next month ahead of the DUP’s annual conference on October 13 starts.
Simon Hoare, the Conservative MP and chairman of the House of Commons Northern Ireland committee, said it was “wise” for the UK government to take control of implementation, even though this would “narrowly and specifically infringe on a devolved jurisdiction”.
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Doug Beattie said the news was the “final proof” that their call for the DUP to facilitate the return of power-sharing was “the right one”.
“The noises made over the past sixteen months that, by holding the Assembly down, the Windsor Framework or its Protocol predecessor would be rewritten have proven to be false. “It is clear that the only way to challenge the Framework and maximize its opportunities is to restore decentralized governance and advocate for change,” he said.
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