Written question AQW 35203/22-27
Written question by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 11 November 2025
- Type
- Written question
- Assembly reference
- AQW 35203/22-27
- Department
- Department for the Economy
- Business
- To the Minister for the Economy
- Assembly identifier
- Document 458555
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
To ask the Minister for the Economy, following her Written Ministerial Statement on the Invest NI Review of Investments on 16 October 2025, (i) to detail the rationale for instructing her Department to break (a) Annex 2 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, namely Regulation (EU) 2015/479; Regulation (EU) 2015/936; Obligations stemming from the international agreements concluded by the Union; and (b) the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement, establishing an association between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the State of Israel; and (ii) to detail the rational for not abiding by Annex 2 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, regarding regulations on bilateral safeguards, Regulation (EU) No 654/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 concerning the exercise of the Union's rights for the application and enforcement of international trade rules and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 3286/94 laying down Community procedures in the field of the common commercial policy in order to ensure the exercise of the Community's rights under international trade rules, in particular those established under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation.
183 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.18 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.78).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- Subject area: Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty.
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.03 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.02 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.08 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.12 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.78 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.18 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.76 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.24 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 05:04 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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