The UK Government is taking steps to prevent a divergence in law between Northern Ireland and Great Britain regarding the packaging and labelling of chemicals, following a Stormont Brake request led by unionist parties. The request aimed to prevent the application of updated EU rules on chemical packaging and labelling in Northern Ireland. While the UK's Northern Ireland Secretary initially declined the request, citing existing differences in chemical labelling requirements between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, he has now pledged to take necessary future steps to avoid regulatory barriers.
The UK Government is taking steps to prevent a divergence in law between Northern Ireland and Great Britain regarding the packaging and labelling of chemicals, according to Stormont's deputy First Minister.
Unionists in the Northern Ireland Assembly had asked in December for the Government to consider using the brake over the EU amending legislation, which will affect the labelling and packaging of chemicals such as sealants, household cleaning products or industrial chemicals. This required Mr Benn to assess whether the legal tests to trigger the mechanism had been met.
Speaking in Belfast on Tuesday, Ms Little-Pengelly stated that every designated unionist in the Assembly had supported the Stormont Brake request. "We believe that the Secretary of State was wrong to reject that request," she said. "The chemical trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is worth over a billion pounds a year so this is not an insignificant issue but of course what we want is the Government to prevent that divergence.
"I welcome the change of view in the Government. The fact is that only happened because of the Stormont Brake and I welcome the fact that the divergence will be avoided."
Northern Ireland Great Britain Chemical Law EU Regulations Stormont Brake
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