DUP Leader Says 'Key Areas Of Concern Remain' On Windsor Framework

Leader of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has posted a statement online regarding the Windsor Framework (the compromise reached between the UK gov't and EU attempting to resolve issues in the Northern Ireland protocol). Link: https://mydup.com/news/sir-jeffrey-gives-windsor-f... In the statement, Donaldson states that 'key areas of concern' remain in the framework, potentially raising the prospect that the DUP disavows the deal and does not return to the power-sharing agreement in the devolved Northern Ireland assembly. This would raise the prospect of continued EU-UK rancour and risk the framework being viewed as a failure.

• Donaldson: "The Windsor Framework while undoubtedly representing significant progress across a number of areas does not deal with some of the fundamental problems at the heart of our current difficulties. It is my current assessment that there remains key areas of concern which require further clarification, re-working and change as well as seeing further legal text."
• On the 'green/red lanes' to reduce NI-GB customs checks: "Greater clarity is needed on how this will operate in practice and that arrangements ensure the free flow of goods within the United Kingdom Internal Market."
• On the 'Stormont brake': "For these proposals to truly remedy[...] we must be clear that any mechanism exercised by 30 MLAs is effective in law and will allow locally elected representatives [...] to determine whether amended or new laws are implemented. We cannot have a situation where Northern Ireland diverges from its most important market that being the rest of the United Kingdom."