MPs have waved through the government’s latest post-Brexit Northern Ireland trade arrangements that pave the way for power-sharing to restart at Stormont after a two-year deadlock.
The House of Commons approved the changes on Thursday afternoon without a formal vote, despite Brexiters’ concerns about the region remaining under EU law.
Northern Ireland assembly members have been put on notice for the prospect of a hastily recalled sitting this weekend. Stormont could be back up and running as soon as Saturday, ending a boycott of power sharing that has destabilised the country.
Assembly members are preparing to elect a speaker and appoint an executive led by Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill as first minister, a historic first. A nationalist politician has never before held that role.
The DUP will be entitled to the deputy first minister post, which has equal power to the first minister but less prestige. The government’s structure would reflect the results of the 2022 election, where Sinn Féin overtook the DUP as the largest party.
Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s premier, told RTÉ that the EU would have “some questions” about the new arrangements but added: “From what I have seen so far, I don’t see any red flags. I don’t see anything that would give us undue cause for concern.”
The UK government has said the package only affects the operation of the Windsor framework, the set of post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland that was agreed with Brussels last year, and therefore does not require EU approval.
The measures remove routine checks on goods from Great Britain that are destined to remain in Northern Ireland and replace them with a “UK internal market system” for goods that remain within the UK.
Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, told the Commons that the changes “restored Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom’s internal market”.
But he added: “It is work in progress. I do not stand here this afternoon and pretend that we have completed the task. I recognise that there are ongoing concerns about how these new arrangements will work in practice. And it will be our task to hold the government to account on its commitments.”
Donaldson stressed that the package contained “real achievements, real changes” that would safeguard Northern Ireland’s place in the union.
There was criticism of the package from some Brexit-backing Tory backbenchers and from the DUP MP Sammy Wilson, who argued that Northern Ireland would remain “subservient” to EU rules and called for more time to examine the proposals, which he said had been “hurried through”.
Nigel Dodds, the former DUP deputy leader, told peers that “many unionists still are concerned” about the application of EU law in Northern Ireland and a border in the Irish Sea, but he refrained from a broader criticism of the package.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, told MPs: “This package will safeguard and durably strengthen Northern Ireland’s integral place in the union and the UK’s internal market, and do so by placing commitments in that package into law.”
He added: “This legislation will also change so that new regulatory borders between Great Britain and Northern Ireland cannot emerge from future agreements with the European Union. This is an important new safeguard to future-proof Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.”
Edward Leigh, a former Tory minister, said: “What worries me about all this is not the deal as such, but I’m a Brexiteer and I want us to have a dynamic and deregulated economy. What happens when we try and diverge from EU laws? Will some civil servant have to sign this off?”
Heaton-Harris said the measures “will not change the freedoms and powers” afforded by Brexit.
The legislation will be considered by the House of Lords on 13 February and peers must approve them before they can become law.
