The Windsor Framework
2022 Assembly elections (although he ended up passing up his Assembly seat and remaining as the MP for Lagan Valley). The 2022 Election was, of course, the first time in the history of the Assembly that a nationalist party had won the most seats (although overall, the unionists still retained the majority of the seats with 37 whilst the nationalists achieved 35). In Northern Ireland, the first step to forming a new government, due to the power-sharing agreement, is for the two biggest parties from the nationalist and unionist blocks to elect a speaker for the house. This decision needs to have the support of both parties and must be made before ministers are elected – however, the DUP refused to make this decision, in protest of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Donaldson stated that ‘ Until we get decisive action taken by the UK government on the protocol, we will not be nominating ministers to the executive. ’ Donaldson had been appointed leader of the party as he seemed to be the ideal candidate to unify the 2 divided sides of the DUP: one who has hard-line unionist beliefs and can appeal to those within the party who believe the way forward is resistance and obstruction; but also one who by working in Westminster for almost 20 years can effectively collaborate with the British Government to renegotiate the best deal for Northern Ireland. However, the one consequential issue that arose from the Northern Ireland protocol that all Unionists remained in agreement on, was the belief that the Protocol negatively affected the Northern Irish economy and the relationship between the region and mainland Britain. One figure widely circulated was that the Protocol was costing the Northern Irish economy £2.5 million a day (based on the estimate that all businesses in Northern Ireland had suffered a 6% rise in production costs due to new paperwork being required, extensive checks, and huge delays occurring when importing goods from the rest of the UK.) It was this united front on such an important issue that emboldened Donaldson to present his '7 tests' that any new trade arrangement for Northern Ireland would be required to pass in order for Donaldson to finally permit the forming of an executive and a return to Stormont. ‘ If and when a final agreement is reached, we will want to carefully consider the detail of that agreement and decide if the agreement does in fact meet our seven tests. We’ve been very clear with the Prime Minister that those seven tasks remain the basis upon which we will judge any agreement. ’
The 7 tests are:
1. Fulfil Article 6 of the Act of Union
2. Avoid any diversion of trade
3. Not constitute a border in the Irish Sea
4. Give the people of NI a say in making laws that govern them
5. Result in 'no checks on goods going from NI to GB or from GB to NI' (and remaining in NI)
6. Ensure no new regulatory borders develop between NI and the rest of the UK
7. Preserve the letter and spirit of NI’s constitutional guarantee in the Belfast Agreement by requiring consent from a majority of its citizens for any diminution of its status as part of the UK So, in February 2023, when Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary, James Cleverly, met with DUP leaders to discuss the final negotiations with the European Commission that would be taking place the following week, Donaldson was ‘ hopeful ’ at the prospects of a new agreement being reached that could pass his 7 tests. The new deal that Sunak struck with the president of the European Commission Ursula von der
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