London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Factbox: What is the Stormont Brake?

Factbox: What is the Stormont Brake?

The British government will be able to stop the application of new EU laws on goods in Northern Ireland if requested by a third of lawmakers in Northern Ireland's regional assembly, but only "in the most exceptional circumstances", the EU and Britain agreed on Monday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes the so-called 'Stormont brake' can help win support from pro-British politicians in the region and some members of his own Conservative Party for a wider deal to overhaul post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland.

Following are some details about the measure:


HOW DOES IT WORK?


In a British government document setting out details of the deal, London said the mechanism gives it an "unequivocal veto" on EU rules when 30 members of Northern Ireland's devolved government from two or more parties object.

"Once the UK notifies the EU that the brake has been triggered, the rule in question is suspended automatically from coming into effect," the document published on the British government website said.

"It can then only be subsequently applied in Northern Ireland if the UK and EU both agree to that jointly in the (UK-EU) Joint Committee," the document said, referring to the main forum for UK–EU consultation on Britain's withdrawal agreement.

"This would give the UK an unequivocal veto - enabling the rule to be permanently disapplied - within the Joint Committee."

London added that the new mechanism is not subject to European Court of Justice oversight, and that any dispute would be resolved through subsequent independent arbitration according to international and not EU law.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Northern Ireland's largest pro-British party, would have to end a year-long boycott of the regional assembly, which it started in protest at the post-Brexit rules, for the 'Stormont brake' to become a reality.

After winning 25 seats at elections last year, the DUP would need the support of five more politicians to try to trigger the brake. There are 12 other pro-British unionist politicians in the assembly now.


"MATTER OF LAST RESORT"


A separate unilateral declaration made by the UK government sets out how the mechanism would be triggered "under the most exceptional circumstances and as a matter of last resort".

Objecting local politicians would have to provide a detailed and publicly available written explanation that they have used every other available mechanism and that they had sought prior substantive discussion with the UK government and within the Northern Ireland power-sharing government.

The politicians would also have to have taken steps to consult businesses, other traders and civic society affected by the new or amended law.

If the UK accepts these conditions have been met, it would commence intensive consultations at the joint committee. In a document published on its website, the European Commission said an arbitration panel may rule on whether the conditions have been met.

It added that if the parties cannot agree either to add an amended or replacing law or to other measures, the EU can take appropriate remedial measures. This would be because of a divergence in trade rules between Northern Ireland and Ireland - and thus the broader EU, London noted.

The Commission also said the brake can only be triggered if the relevant law significantly differs in scope or content from the previous one and would have a significant impact on the everyday life of communities in Northern Ireland.

London said it cannot be "available for trivial reasons", while Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told a news conference that there were "clear and strict rules" on its operation.

"The bar is set quite high," said Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queen's University Belfast who has written extensively about the trade rules.

"Most of the amendments and replacements of the law are very anodyne and wouldn't really be noticed by most people. You wouldn't see it as something that would be a regular occurrence."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×