Thread by @CeeMacBee

Damming legal report on #WindsorFramework

• increases the power of the EU over Britain.

• there are easings of the arrangements for trade, but these are all at the behest of the EU, the EU can pull the plug anytime they want.

express.co.uk/news/politics/…

2. On sovereignty, they said: “Northern Ireland remains subject to the power and control of EU law, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) and EU administrative organs (such as the European Commission) in respect of goods and ancillary matters."

3. The star chamber questioned whether so-called easings on checks will benefit companies in anything but a limited fashion and warn that small companies in particular will struggle to benefit from them.

4. “Future deregulatory efforts in the UK, e.g. under the Retention of EU Law Bill, will call into question whether new checks will be required, triggering a fresh negotiation.”

And added that the deal could push governments to simply comply with EU rules.

5. “These arrangements amount to limited & specific relaxations in EU law applicable to VAT & excise in NI, but they fall well short of restoring to the UK the right of an independent country to decide on its tax structures & set its tax rates as it might wish across the country”

6. #WindsorFramework 'continues to accept the reach of EU State aid law and the jurisdiction of the EU Commission and the ECJ, not just over Northern Ireland but also over the whole of the UK.'

7. The lawyers dismissed the Stormont Brake supposedly available for the Northern Ireland Assembly as an already failed model.

They pointed out that a similar deal offered to Norway in 2011 collapsed by 2013 because it was unworkable.

8. Conclusion:
• EU law will still be supreme in NI;
• The rights of its people under the 1800 Act of Union are not restored;
• the ‘green lane’ is not really a ‘green lane’ at all;
• the Stormont Brake is practically useless;
• the #Windsorframework has no easy exit.
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