Windsor Framework: DUP supports pet food EU law being added to post-Brexit deal

Currently pet food must have 100% organic content to be marketed as organic in the EU

The DUP has supported a new EU law being added to the Windsor Framework.

The framework is the revised post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.

The addition of new EU laws to the framework are subject to a cross-community Stormont vote known as an applicability motion.

The new law is a largely uncontroversial one, concerning the organic content of pet food. Currently pet food must have 100% organic content to be marketed as organic in the EU.

The new law will reduce the organic content requirement to 95%, the same level as Great Britain.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said if the assembly voted against the law Northern Ireland would be "the only place in UK stuck with the old rule".

That was echoed by the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) assembly member Steve Aiken who said failure to support the change would create a divergence with the rest of the UK.

• How the NI Protocol became the Windsor Framework

The motion was opposed by the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader and assembly member Jim Allister who said that whatever the content of the law, the whole process was a "constitutional affront".

He said that it demonstrated how in hundreds of areas only the EU can make laws for Northern Ireland, not the Stormont Assembly or the Westminster Parliament.

He added that this amounted to "colonial rule" from the EU.

The deputy first minister defended the applicability motion process, saying the DUP had "fought for and secured" measures to give Stormont a "meaningful say".

She described the original NI Brexit deal, the Protocol, as having an "appalling democratic deficit".

The Windsor Framework was announced by the prime minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

The Alliance assembly member Eoin Tennyson said it was "a genuinely positive step" that the motion had been jointly tabled by the first minister and deputy first minister.

The motion was also supported by Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP).

It was passed by 74 votes to two.

There were 32 votes in favour from nationalists and 16 votes from others, with no votes against from these groups.

Among unionists, there were 26 votes in favour and two against. Those voting against were Jim Allister and independent unionist Alex Easton.

A majority of DUP assembly members, 15, supported the new EU law on Monday, but nine DUP assembly members did not vote.

In March, the DUP voted against an applicability motion concerning a new EU law on the protection of geographical indications (GI) for craft and industrial products.

The law could still be applied in Northern Ireland if the UK government assesses it would not create a new regulatory border between GB and NI, or if it believes exceptional circumstances apply.

It is still not clear what the government intends to do on this matter.

If the government vetoes the law, the EU could ultimately take "appropriate remedial measures".