UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak left rear and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen right rear attend a joint press conference in Windsor, Britain on February 27, 2023. The parties announced a new deal aimed at easing post-Brexit trade tensions in Northern Ireland on Friday, aimed at easing post-Brexit trade tensions in Northern Ireland.
At their meeting in London, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic signed off the deal.
According to their joint statement, both the UK and the EU had taken a positive approach and reiterated their intent to use the framework to resolve any future trade issues.
It aims to solve the trading issues created by its predecessor, the Northern Ireland Protocol, which imposed border checks on British goods arriving in Northern Ireland.
As a key element of the new deal, the Stormont Brake took the Irish name of the Northern Ireland Assembly to give Northern Ireland's lawmakers more control over EU rules set to apply in the region.
While Northern Ireland's political parties generally support the framework, the Democratic Unionist Party DUP has questioned how the Stormont Brake will operate. As a sign of protest, the party has refused to join the power-sharing government at Stormont for over a year, which has undermined political stability.