The most interesting part of the press conference between the UK prime minister and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was probably what Rishi Sunak said about the deal including a “Stormont brake”, which will allow the Northern Ireland assembly to stop new EU single market rules from applying in the region.
He said the agreement “safeguards sovereignty” for Northern Ireland as a result. It had been reported that the agreement – known as the Windsor framework – would give the Northern Ireland assembly a right to be consulted on new single market rules; but this goes further, because the assembly would be able to block new rules applying in Northern Ireland.
