Tuesday’s assembly vote on the post-Brexit trading arrangements “has been rigged to get the desired outcome”, according to the DUP’s Sammy Wilson.
As revealed by The Irish News last month, a majority of MLAs are expected to back the continued implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol, which in its latest iteration is known as the Windsor Framework.
Unlike other assembly votes, Tuesday’s does not require cross-community support.
Some 52 MLAs from Sinn Féin, Alliance and SDLP will vote in favour of retaining the Irish Sea border, alongside People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll, who in 2016 campaigned for the UK to leave the EU.
All unionists, including independent Claire Sugden, will vote against the current trading arrangements but in the absence of assembly speaker Edwin Poots, they will collectively muster 36 votes.
Failure to secure cross-community support for articles 5-10 of the Windsor Framework will trigger a British government review of the regulations that keep the north in the EU single market.
Speaking ahead of the vote, which formed part of the 2019 UK-EU withdrawal agreement, Mr Wilson said the DUP had “consistently warned about the unfairness of the democratic consent vote”.
His former party leader Lord Nigel Dodds previously said the vote “drives a coach and horses through the Belfast Agreement by altering the cross-community consent mechanism”.
“Despite unionists voting against, this vote has been rigged to get the desired outcome,” Mr Wilson said.
“In Northern Ireland, we have safeguards to prevent domination by one community, such as the requirement for a majority of both unionists and nationalists in key votes. Why, then, is the decision on the NI Protocol, a deeply divisive issue, not held to the same standard? The simple answer is, they wanted a certain outcome.”
The East Antrim MP urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to use this week’s visit to Brussels to “work to address the harm caused to businesses, competitiveness, consumer choice, and the broader economy by the implementation of the Windsor Framework”.
Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan said the mitigations established under the protocol and the Windsor Framework were “hugely beneficial to our economy and wider society”.
The North Antrim MLA said he was confident the assembly would endorse the cross-party motion supporting mitigations.
Alliance leader Naomi Long confirmed that her party would vote in favour of retaining the Windsor Framework.
“Alliance has always been a strongly pro-European party and warned from the beginning Brexit would bring about new borders and barriers, with resulting uncertainty and instability,” she said.
SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole said his party “make no apology for proudly championing Northern Ireland’s unique place in relation to Europe”.
“While others remain obsessed with taking us backwards, we want to realise the opportunities that exist through the protocol/Windsor Framework and to deal with the remaining challenges presented by Brexit,” he said.
Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie said the DUP “assisted in the creation of the Windsor Framework resulting in the completely worthless Safeguarding the Union’ document”.
“It is important that in voting against the protocol, ensuring it doesn’t receive cross party support, we must then ensure the government live up to their commitments to review articles 5-10 and find a solution that can receive cross party support,” he said.
