Brexit: New Stormont brake details due to be published

More details of how the so-called "Stormont brake" aspect of the new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland will work are due to be published later.

The brake aims to give politicians in the Stormont assembly a greater say on how EU laws apply to Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the mechanism is proof that the UK has "taken back control" in the agreement he struck with the EU last month.

MPs will be given a chance to vote on the measure in Parliament on Wednesday.

The wider deal, known as the Windsor Framework, builds on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which led to significant disagreements between the UK and European Union (EU).

The framework aims to significantly reduce the number of post-Brexit checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

The checks were required under the original Brexit deal in order to maintain an open land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which is in the EU.

It is not yet clear whether the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will support the new deal.

The party has blocked the functioning of the power-sharing government at Stormont for over a year in protest against the trade rules for Northern Ireland in the original deal.

A majority of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly elected in May 2022 are in favour of the Northern Ireland Protocol, in some form, remaining.

Sinn Féin, Alliance and the SDLP have said improvements to the protocol are needed to ease its implementation.

Unionist politicians want it replaced with new arrangements.

The party's support for it is seen as vital if the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Stormont executive are to operate again.

Last week, the prime minister's spokesman described the Stormont brake as the "most significant part" of the government's new deal with the EU.

But the main political parties at Stormont have been seeking clarification about it, which the government has promised it would provide.

Assembly members at Stormont can use the brake to raise an objection to new EU laws applying to Northern Ireland.

If 30 members were against a given regulation they could refer it to the UK government to consider and challenge with the EU.

The UK government has said the mechanism provides Stormont with a "genuine and powerful role" in decisions about the application of EU laws in Northern Ireland.

But it has also said that it can only be used in the "most exceptional circumstances and as a matter of last resort".

Some of the Northern Ireland political parties say the Stormont brake sounds like a unionist veto.

So there will be much interest when the secondary legislation detailing how it will work is published.

With Labour support for it already guaranteed it is bound to pass when it is put to a vote in Parliament on Wednesday.

But the big question is this: how will the DUP and Eurosceptic Conservative MPs vote in the framework's first big test?

Meanwhile, ministers from EU member states are due to discuss the Windsor Framework in Brussels on Tuesday.

It is on the agenda of the General Affairs Council, the monthly meeting of foreign ministers or ministers responsible for European affairs.

They are expected to approve the changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol brought about by the framework.

That will pave the way for a meeting of the Joint Committee, the EU-UK body which oversees the deal and which will formally ratify the changes.

A date for the meeting of the Joint Committee is yet to be confirmed.