Commenting on the Secretary of State’s upcoming Stormont Brake decision, Jim Allister KC MP said:
“The legislation states that the Secretary of State must decide whether to allow the Brake to be pulled within the scrutiny period which lasts for two months, in this case between 20 November and 20 January. That means Mr Benn must make his decision by this coming Monday.
“While it was important for unionists to stand together to pull the Brake, it is also important that we have no illusions about the limitations of the Brake (which provides a way of trying to stop the amending of existing EU legislation to which we are subject) and indeed the allied Applicability Motion (which provides a way of trying to stop new EU legislation from applying to us).
“First, they only apply to some imposed EU law.
“Second, instead of giving us back our right to stand for election to make the laws to which we are subject in the relevant areas, they just give us the right to stand for election to try to stop laws that others have already made for us in a foreign parliament.
“Third, even if we are successful using these mechanisms, they give us no right to make an alternative law to replace the law we block.
“Fourth, in pulling the brake we had to demonstrate that doing so was ‘a last resort, having used every other available mechanism’ as if in Ulster is it OK to treat democracy as a last resort.
“Fifth, we can only seek to use the brake if the imposed law ‘significantly differs, from the previous EU law that it replaces’ and if the change is likely to have ‘a significant impact specific to everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland in a way that is liable to persist.’
“Finally, if the Secretary of State agrees to our exercising the very limited and truncated negative citizenship provided by the brake, the question as to whether it stands then goes to an international arbitration panel who might side with the EU rather than us.
“The truth is that it is hard to imagine a more demeaning arrangement. It is simply outrageous that we should be treated in this way.
“In truth, therefore, the main impact of this experience must be to demonstrate to ourselves that no self-respecting people can willingly submit to this kind of injustice as a long term arrangement. I obviously hope EU Regulation 2024/2865 is blocked but it is important not to lose sight of the bigger picture.
“Rather than working with this injustice, accommodating it, going forward unionism needs to stand united against it. That is why I continue to champion my Mutual Enforcement Bill which presents the win win of restoring the citizenship of the people of Northern Ireland while preventing the people of Great Britain from having Brexit taken from them by means of the EU using the Irish Sea border to effectively tie GB law to the EU. Winning this battle depends on unionists from across the whole United Kingdom working together and that must be our purpose going forward.”