Debate contribution: Standing Order 59A

Debate contribution by Mr David Brooks on 26 November 2024.

MLA

Mr David Brooks

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

26 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Committee Business

Heading

Standing Order 59A

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4677332

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The Democratic Unionist Party acknowledges that it is appropriate to provide in Standing Orders for the underpinning of the Committees established in this place. On that basis, I align myself with the Chair's comments, particularly on substitute members and the provision thereof. I thank the Chair and members of the Committee on Procedures for their work with us on that and for their commitment to a review in a year's time. From a party political position, however, let us be clear from the outset that the Committee does not scratch the surface with regard to resolving the fundamental problem that led to its creation, namely the democratic deficit created by the Northern Ireland protocol. As a result of those flawed arrangements and the failure of consecutive Governments to address the surrendering of over 300 areas of law to the EU, no Member of the House has any say or power in formulating, developing, amending or initiating legislation in those areas, even where it is directly contrary to the interests of businesses and communities in Northern Ireland. The draft Standing Order acknowledges and embeds that inequality. Paragraph (2) presents the DSC as a Standing Committee. Why is that significant? It means that the Committee lacks the powers and mandate of a Statutory Committee. Statutory Committees are clearly defined in section 29 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and link directly to paragraph 9 of strand one of the Belfast Agreement. Those provisions dictate that Statutory Committees are to advise and assist each Executive Minister in the formulation of policy and to

"have a role in initiation of legislation."

Those are vital functions that local elected representatives in the Chamber should have over the laws that govern our economy, yet the Democratic Scrutiny Committee has been left bereft of those functions as a direct result of Governments ceding power to Brussels. In that context, we recognise that the Democratic Scrutiny Committee can serve only to mitigate rather than resolve the undemocratic nature of the current arrangements. That said, neither the DSC nor the separate process of the Stormont brake were part of the original protocol. The fact that we have those mechanisms, however imperfect, is solely because of the actions taken by my party. We will continue to use the Democratic Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise legislation that is either under consideration by the EU or is published, whilst being cognisant that that still does not give Assembly Members a substantive role in how laws are developed or imposed. The Stormont brake mechanism is distinct from the Democratic Scrutiny Committee, and the DUP will use it to full effect in the pursuit of our overall objectives of removing barriers within the United Kingdom and ensuring the primacy of its internal market. We have also successfully tested the Government's duty not to adopt EU laws that are not currently covered by the Windsor framework without cross-community consent in the Assembly. However, both of those processes provide Assembly Members with a say after the fact, when legislation has already completed its passage. That, in itself, demonstrates the gulf in democratic accountability that is still to be bridged. Regrettably, even when taking account of the Committee's limited functions, the parties on the opposite Benches have demonstrated a willingness to constrain the scrutiny of proposed or published EU acts beyond an initial desktop exercise. Frequently, unionist calls for a Committee inquiry into a piece of legislation, especially where its impacts on Northern Ireland remain unclear, have been shut down and voted down.

Having previously called for the rigorous implementation of the original protocol, which ceded control of our laws without any mitigation or role for the Assembly, it now appears that Sinn Féin, the SDLP and Alliance are committed to frustrating even the peripheral influence that has been handed to our institutions.

For those reasons, we welcome the creation of a House of Lords Select Committee, the Northern Ireland Scrutiny Committee. We suspect that that Committee will take a more open and transparent approach to examining the multitude of EU rules, regulations and laws coming forward that directly affect Northern Ireland. That multitude was the case in the previous parliamentary mandate, and that work will increase in importance in the coming months and years.

I was drawing my remarks to a close. All that I will say is that we look forward to engaging with the structures at Westminster that I have mentioned. Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker.

743 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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