Written question AQW 35445/22-27
Written question by Dr Steve Aiken OBE on .
- MLA
- Dr Steve Aiken OBE
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 13 November 2025
- Type
- Written question
- Assembly reference
- AQW 35445/22-27
- Department
- Department for the Economy
- Business
- To the Minister for the Economy
- Assembly identifier
- Document 458900
Read the official Assembly record Open Data source
Text
To ask the Minister for the Economy, pursuant to AQW 33821/22-27, to detail (i) the rationale for her direction to Invest NI when, our nation, which retains competency in accordance with the Northern Ireland Act 1998 for foreign policy, defence and international trade, has concluded that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, according to the letter from the Foreign Secretary to the Chair of the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee on 1 September 2025, and thereby giving de jure recognition of UK law and policy; (ii) the legal grounds she has for not complying with the UK Government direction on this matter, given UK legal primacy; and (iii) whether she has received permission from the Attorney General to breach 2.4(v) of the Ministerial Code in making this unilateral decision, without prior agreement.
133 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: 0.24 (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).
- No identity-based framing was identified (0.63).
- 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 | 0.08 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.04 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.02 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.16 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.24 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.56 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.24 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 0.63 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.05 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.32 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| Constitutional question, Brexit, the Windsor Framework and sovereignty | 0.58 |
| No identity-related subject | 0.30 |
| Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice) | 0.06 |
| Another identity-related subject | 0.04 |
| Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers | 0.02 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 05:07 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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