UK eurosceptic Conservatives: Stormont brake 'practically useless'

Francois said the group would meet on Wednesday morning to decide whether to vote for the brake. Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party on Monday said its lawmakers would vote against the brake.

A group of eurosceptic Conservative lawmakers warned on Tuesday that the newly agreed 'Stormont brake' mechanism to prevent Northern Ireland being subject to unwelcome EU laws was "practically useless".

Parliament will on Wednesday debate and vote on the brake, part of the Windsor Framework agreed between Britain and the European Union last month as a solution to long-running post-Brexit trade problems relating to the British province. The brake enables Britain to prevent new EU laws applying to goods in Northern Ireland if asked to do so by a third of lawmakers in the province's devolved legislature.

"EU law will still be supreme in Northern Ireland ... the Stormont brake is practically useless and the framework itself has no exit other than through a highly complex legal process," European Research Group (ERG) Chairman Mark Francois told reporters. Francois said the group would meet on Wednesday morning to decide whether to vote for the brake.

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party on Monday said its lawmakers would vote against the brake.

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