Windsor Framework Formally Agreed, DUP Maintains Objections

The UK and EU have formally agreed on the application of the 'Windsor framework', a deal intended to resolve the issues that have arisen since the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and European Commission VP Maros Sefcovic signed the deal in London earlier today. This follows on from a House of Commons vote earlier in the week in which MPs overwhelmingly supported a statutory instrument implementing the 'Stormont brake' in the framework, with only 22 Conservatives joining the eight DUP (and one independent) MPs in voting against the gov't.

• The DUP has stated that it will not return to the power-sharing executive in the Northern Ireland Assembly based on the Windsor framework, for now dealing a blow to one of the framework's main aims. This comes just weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, for which US President Joe Biden is expected to visit Northern Ireland.
• However, the UK gov't (and emphatically the EU) have stated that the framework is not open for renegotiation. At present it is unclear what the next move for the DUP - the largest unionist party in NI - will be. Opinion polls show the party having gained some support from the previous election in 2022 but still trailing the republican Sinn Fein by some distance.