Donaldson says "green lane" system for goods going from GB to NI will go Q: Are you really getting rid of all checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland? Donaldson says, on checks on goods moving from GB to NI and staying in the UK, there will no longer be checks, unless there is a suspicion of criminality. On customs paperwork, he says supplementary declarations will be gone. The “green lane” will go, and be replaced by the UK’s internal market system, he says. Afternoon summary Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland, is poised to become the first nationalist first minister at Stormont after the DUP said it would be lifting its boycott of power sharing. The DUP agreed to resume participation in the power sharing executive, which has been suspended for almost two years, on the basis of a deal agreed with the UK government to revise some of the post-Brexit trading rules that disadvantaged Northern Ireland. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, played down the significance of O’Neill becoming first minister (see 3.51pm), but it is bound to be seen as a historic moment for Northern Ireland, where the unionists have been the dominant political community for most of the last century and where Sinn Féin was for many years marginalised because of its links with the IRA. Donaldson also claimed the deal was a victory for his party, because it confounded critics who claimed the DUP would never be able to change the legal terms of the Windsor framework. (See 4.49pm.) Details of the deal have not yet been published, and it is possible that their release tomorrow will lead to claims that Donaldson has over-sold what has been achieved. But with Sinn Féin and other parties welcoming the prospect of Stormont being revised, Dublin and Brussels apparently relaxed about the Windsor framework being altered, and no significant figures from the DUP speaking out against the deal, the Northern Ireland executive does seem on course to return within days. The International Monetary Fund has issued a strong warning to Jeremy Hunt against cutting taxes in his budget in March, stressing the need to boost key areas of public spending instead. The UK Covid inquiry is struggling to understand how Nicola Sturgeon took key decisions during the pandemic because her “gold command” meetings were not minuted, the inquiry has heard. Keir Starmer’s office has begun polling British Muslim voters amid growing concern in senior Labour ranks about the damage done to their core vote by the row over the party’s position on the Middle East. Councils in England are to be encouraged to sell publicly owned buildings and other assets worth up to £23bn under plans being explored by ministers to plug budget shortfalls amid the crisis in local government. Donaldson says DUP has confounded critics who said it would never be able to achieve "legal change" to Windsor framework Here are some more quotes from what Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said in his news conference at Stormont this afternoon. Donaldson, the DUP leader, said he had confounded critics who claimed his party would never be able to achieve legal changes to the Windsor framework. He said: Those who said there will be no legal change, who were predicting things would fall short, I simply asked people to wait and see the outcome. Wait and see the evidence and judge for yourself what this deal does, what it delivers, the change that it secures. I believe we are now beginning to see on day one that delivery coming through. He said the DUP had negotiated the removal of extra checks on goods coming from Britain to Northern Ireland and due to stay there. He said: On checks, on goods, moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and staying within the UK, there will no longer be physical checks, identity checks, save where, as is normal in any part of the UK, there is a suspicion of smuggling, of criminal activity; that is the same for every part of the United Kingdom. He said “supplementary” customs declarations would no longer be needed. He said: On customs paperwork, customs declarations, supplementary declarations, will be gone and therefore we believe this represents a significant change. And he said the “green lane”, a Windsor framework arrangement for goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland and not destined for Ireland, would go. He said: As far as we are concerned, the green lane will go and be replaced by the UK internal market system that reflects the reality that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, that goods flowing within the United Kingdom, flow freely. That was our core key objective and I believe what we have secured represents real change and everybody will be able to see it for themselves. James Crisp from the Telegraph reported on this last week – although he suggested the the rebranding was partly cosmetic. So offer to DUP, as I understand it, is as follows. Patriotic rebrand of WF Green Lane to “UK Internal Market Lane”. All new laws to be screened to ensure they don’t have “significant adverse impact” on GB-NI trade. Warm words promising to negotiate more cuts with EU Donaldson suggested that the Northern Ireland executive could reform very soon, although he said this was dependent on the UK government bringing forward legislation. He played down the significance of Northern Ireland having a Sinn Féin first minister. Asked how significant it was that people would be serving under a Sinn Féin FM, he replied: The offices is a joint office [because first minister and deputy FM carry equal weight in decision making]. The DUP has in the past shared that joint office. We are democrats. The electoral results are there. I wish it had been different, of course. Like any political party you want to win the elections. I hope that from a unionist point of view we are learning the lessons that divisions in unionism, especially at election time, do not win unionist seats. He also said he hoped unionism would “get its act together” in future so there were more unionist MLAs at Stormont. Downing Street has said that the draft update to the Windsor framework published today (see 4.03pm) is not the same as the deal to restore power sharing at Stormont. Asked about the document published today, a No 10 spokesperson told journalists at the afternoon lobby briefing: That is not part of this agreement. This is separate – this is an update on some separate work we have been working on with the European Commission. This is a joint legal solution that will benefit Northern Ireland traders. But to be clear, this is a separate stream of work from the agreement that was discussed last night and that will be published tomorrow. Asked to explain what the revisions to the framework mean, the spokesperson said: This is a joint legal solution agreed with the European Commission. It will ensure Northern Ireland traders can benefit from the UK’s independent free trade policy when importing agri-food goods. There are lot of technical details. It will mean that over 30,000 tonnes of lamb, beef and poultry from key FTA (free trade agreement) partners and other countries around the world will now be covered by the UK and not the EU’s tariff quota regime every year. Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, posted this comment on X on Raoul Ruparel’s thread. (See 4.03pm.) This demonstrates that the naysayers are wrong. There will be legal changes. I asked people to wait and study the outcome rather than follow misinformed speculation. There is more to come. The @duponline is delivering real change. The UK government has not yet published a clear summary of its deal with the DUP. It says that this is coming tomorrow. But it has published a draft decision from the withdrawal agreement joint committee, the UK-EU committee that oversees implementation of the agreement taking the UK out of the EU. And this sets out changes to the agreement that have been negotiated. And here is commentary on the deal from Raoul Ruparel, who was immersed in Northern Ireland protocol issues when he worked in No 10 as Theresa May’s adviser on the EU. He has posted these on X. Something unexpected on NI🚨...new Joint Committee legal decision expanding ‘not at risk’ category to cover rest of world imports into NI. Definitely a win for DUP & UK. Also very firmly flies in face of those who said there would be no legal changes 1/ While EU won’t call it this, to me this reads as a legal change under existing Windsor Framework. Will change how green lane operates & allows NI to more firmly take advantage of UK FTAs. 2/ Credit to HMG team & DUP for pushing on this sort of thing. Lots said its impossible but will again help on margin to get Stormont restored which is crucial for NI. 3/ Donaldson plays down significance of NI having Sinn Féin first minster, saying they had equal power with deputy FM job Q: How significant will it be having a Sinn Féin first minister? Donaldson says it is a joint office (the first minister and deputy first minister have equal weight in decision making). He says Sinn Féin has held that joint office before. He says he wishes the DUP had done better at the elections, but he is a democrat, he says. Q: Could the executive return by Saturday? Donaldson says that depends on what happens, and when the government moves legislation. He says he expects Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, to make a statement tomorrow. Donaldson says there are some people who talked tough on this issue, but delivered nothing. The DUP has delivered, he claims. Donaldson says "green lane" system for goods going from GB to NI will go Q: Are you really getting rid of all checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland? Donaldson says, on checks on goods moving from GB to NI and staying in the UK, there will no longer be checks, unless there is a suspicion of criminality. On customs paperwork, he says supplementary declarations will be gone. The “green lane” will go, and be replaced by the UK’s internal market system, he says. Jeffrey Donaldson holds press conference Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, is holding a press conference at Stormont. He says all those who said that he would not be able to secure a change in how the post-Brexit trade rules work in Northern Ireland will see that they are wrong when the deal is published. After the deal is published, there should be legislation, he suggested. And if the agreed timeline with the UK government is met, the institutions in Northern Ireland will reconvene. He says the DUP and other parties have met with civil servants in Northern Ireland to discuss the resumption of power sharing, including what might happen with public sector pay. And they have also discussed the priorities for the executive going ahead, he says. Alliance leader Naomi Long says institutional reform at Stormont now "essential" The Alliance party, which is the third largest party in the Northern Ireland assembly and not aligned to either the nationalist or unionist community, has said that institutional reform at Stormont is essential following the two-year suspension of power sharing. Naomi Long, the Alliance leader, said the sooner the institutions were reformed, the better. But she said: What is clear is that given the fragility of relationships, not just between the parties, but inside some parties, if we are going to have stable institutions, the government now needs to engage seriously on the issue of reform of these institutions. They simply cannot withstand another collapse. Stop-go government will not work and we have to address that issue. She also posted this on X. Mixed emotions today. Good we might finally get to do the whole job we’re elected to do and try to repair some of the damage done, but the last 24 hours don’t bode well for long-term stability. Institutional reform is essential: we just cannot sustain further chaos or collapse. Telegraph could become ‘PR arm’ of UAE after proposed takeover, MPs warned MPs have attacked the proposed UAE-backed takeover of the Telegraph newspapers, warning that it is impossible to “separate sheikh and state” and calling for further investigations to be launched before the deal “turns into a disaster for the government”. Mark Sweney has the story here. Former DUP leader Edwin Poots claims "significant portion of Northern Ireland protocol dismantled" under new deal Edwin Poots, who was DUP leader for just three weeks in 2021 before being replaced by Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, told Radio 4’s the World at One that a significant part of the Northern Ireland protocol would be dismantled under the deal struck with the UK government. He said that he had read the government’s (as yet unpublished) command paper setting out the details and he explained: Essentially there’s a significant portion of the Northern Ireland protocol that’s been dismantled and the UK internal market between Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been restored, and the barriers and impediments to doing trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland have been removed. There’ll be no checks and it’s for traders to register once. Once that registration is made, they will be able to bring goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. The only checks that will be on those goods that remain in Northern Ireland will be the normal criminality checks. Here is a Guardian video with clips summarising the DUP announcement about accepting the UK government’s Windsor framework deal and resuming power sharing. Rishi Sunak and his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, have spoken today about the deal with the DUP. We have not had the No 10 readout yet, but a spokesperson for Varadkar said: The taoiseach and prime minister welcomed the developments overnight, and both leaders said they hope this paves the way for the early restoration of the Northern Ireland executive and the assembly, and that north-south ministerial meetings will resume again. They agreed to keep in touch over the coming period. Here is Lisa O’Carroll’s explainer on what is likely to be in the government’s deal with the DUP. And here is an extract. What is in the deal? Donaldson said it would end “dynamic alignment” whereby future changes in EU law would have to be observed in Northern Ireland. Pending the deal’s publication on Wednesday, it appears that Sunak has offered to keep Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland) aligned with European standards if the DUP returned to Stormont. All new laws at Westminster would be checked to ensure they did not compromise unfettered trade with Northern Ireland, meaning no separate rules or labels for goods that remain in the region. Does that mean the UK will remain closer to Brussels? It appears that the deal is a dusting down of proposals Theresa May made in 2019 to align rules for Northern Ireland with those in the UK, thereby removing the need for what because known as the Brexit sea border. This compromise was rejected by the Conservatives, whose policies were then shaped by convulsions about sovereignty, taking back control of British law and a clean-break Brexit. How can Sunak sell this? He can argue that the alignment with EU law is limited and applies to goods and farm produce and not wider issues such as the rule of law and other national competencies such as health, education, security, justice. Graeme Wearden is covering reaction to the IMF’s warning against tax cuts in the budget (see 2.12pm) on his business live blog. IMF warns Jeremy Hunt against tax cuts in budget The International Monetary Fund has issued a strong warning to Jeremy Hunt against cutting taxes in his budget in March, stressing the need to boost vital areas of public spending instead, Larry Elliott reports. Larry says: In updated forecasts for the UK and the rest of the global economy, the Washington-based fund doubted whether the widely anticipated tax cuts would be possible without extra borrowing or post-election spending cuts. The IMF said the chancellor should be focusing on repairing the public finances after the damage caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine in order to meet growing spending pressures. An IMF spokesperson said: “Preserving high-quality public services and undertaking critical public investments to boost growth and achieve the net zero targets, will imply higher spending needs over the medium term than are currently reflected in the government’s budget plans. “Accommodating these needs, while assuredly stabilising the debt/GDP ratio, will already require generating additional high-quality fiscal savings, including on the tax side.” Hunt is expected to cut income tax in the budget, but the IMF called on the chancellor to increase carbon and property taxes, take steps to eliminate loopholes in the taxation of wealth and income, and reform the pensions triple lock. “It is in this context that [IMF] staff advises against further tax cuts,” the IMF said. And here is the full story. It is still not clear how the UK government has managed to negotiate changes to the Windsor framework, and the post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland, that a) persuade the DUP something significant has changed (see 9.16am), but also b) satisfy the EU that fundamentally the existing deal has not been undermined (see 1.51pm). In a series of posts on X, John Campbell, the BBC’s economics and business editor in Northern Ireland, explains how this circle may be squared. Campbell also points out that a mechanism is in place to allow minor changes to be made to the Windsor framework without the need for a full renegotiation. The European Commission’s spokesperson, Daniel Ferrie, said this morning that the commission would respond to the new Northern Ireland deal when it is published. These are from RTÉ’s Paul Cunningham. Reax to DUP deal, EU Commission @DanielFerrie says: “We understand the UK Government will soon publish the documents related to this deal, so we will examine those texts when the time comes …” “We’re not going to now provide a running commentary on the various different elements in the press. More broadly, and as we’ve said before, we expect the UK Government to fulfil its obligations under the framework as it has been doing.” Sinn Féin welcomes UK government"s deal with DUP, saying changes it makes acceptable to EU and Dublin Sinn Féin has welcomed the DUP’s decision to accept the deal offered by the UK government designed to restore power sharing. That is what Mary Lou McDonald, the party’s president (and leader of the opposition in the Irish parliament) and Michelle O’Neill, the party’s vice-president and its leader in Northern Ireland, where she is first minister designate, said at a news conference at Stormont. Here are the top lines. McDonald said that Sinn Féin was “incredibly postive” about the prospects for Northern Ireland as a result of the deal. And O’Neill said, although there was a lot of work to do, with Stormont sitting again, this could happen. She said: I do think it is a day of optimism and some hope for the wider public. Our public services are stretched to the limit, our public-sector workers have been forced out on to the picket lines. I want to be in position because I want to make a difference to people’s lives, I want to stand up and fight back against this Tory austerity agenda that has hurt our public services so much over the last 13 years. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, a slog ahead of us, but collectively we can do better for the people we serve. McDonald said that the fact that a Sinn Féin leader was about to become first minister was a sign of “the extent of change” that has taken place across Ireland. She said: [This] will be a moment of very great significance; not simply because we haven’t had government for so long but because it will be the first time that we will have a Sinn Féin first minister, a nationalist first minister. So, a mark of the extent of change that has occurred in the north and indeed right across Ireland. O’Neill and McDonald said taking on “Tory austerity” would be a priority for the new executive. McDonald said that she was satisfied that the new deal would not undermine the UK’s existing agreement with Brussels on the Windsor framework. She said: We’ve obviously been in close contact with both governments, and indeed with Brussels. We are satisfied that no part of the Good Friday agreement has been undermined or damaged. And we also know that Brussels, Dublin, all parties, are satisfied that what has been agreed stays between the hedges of the needs of Brussels and the European market, and also the concerns that the DUP expressed. She said her understanding was that the actual deal was concluded some time ago. (She was implying that it took the DUP time to come round to accepting the deal.) New visa rule to stop care workers bringing dependants to UK coming into force on 11 March, Home Office says New rules banning overseas care workers coming to the UK from using their visas to bring dependants with them are going to come into force on 11 March, the Home Office has announced. In a news release giving details of when changes that have already been announced will be implemented, it says the measures include: Reforms that will restrict care workers from bringing dependants and require care providers to register with the Care Quality Commission if they are sponsoring migrants, which will come into force on 11 March. The laying of immigration rules, which will include the removal of the 20% going rate discount for occupations on the shortage occupation list on 14 March. A new increase to the minimum salary required for those arriving on the Skilled Worker visa, from £26,200 to £38,700, on 4 April. Increasing the minimum income requirement threshold in stages for family visas, starting at £29,000 from 11 April. At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the PM’s spokesperson declined to confirm DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s claim that the new deal would result in “zero checks, zero customs paperwork” on goods moving within the United Kingdom. Asked about this, the spokesperson said: I think on all these questions it would not be helpful at this stage to get into the detail. There are further processes that must be undertaken, there are discussions between the Northern Ireland parties taking place today. We will publish the full series of measures once that deal has been finalised and parliament will be updated as well. Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, gave the same answer at his press conference earlier. (See 12.39am.) Attorney general Victoria Prentis orders review of CPS"s handling of Nottingham attacks prosecution Victoria Prentis, the attorney general, has ordered a review of the Crown Prosecution Service’s handling of the prosecution of Valdo Calocane, the man who killed three people and attempted to kill three others in Nottingham. In a news release, Prentis’s office said: This will include looking at CPS’s decision to accept Valdo Calocane’s guilty pleas to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility and whether the CPS met its duties to consult with families ahead of accepting pleas. No 10 says legal migration must fall quickly as ONS projects net migration to rise by 6m over next 15 years The Office for National Statistics has released a projection today saying the UK population could reach nearly 74 million by 2036, up from the latest estimate of 67 million, with net migration adding around 6 million people. These figures are partly based on the ONS’s assumption that net migration will fall towards the end of the decade, but that it is most likely to remain above 300,000 per year, and to continue at that level into the mid 2030s. Suella Braverman, the Conservative former home secretary, responded to the figures by restating her call for a cap on overall immigration numbers. I campaigned for Brexit to reduce migration. These numbers are too high, placing pressure on schools, the NHS & housing. Recent government measures will help a bit but they’re very late. We need a cap on overall numbers so we can hold government to account & fix this problem At the morning lobby briefing, asked if Rishi Sunak agreed with Braverman, the PM’s spokesperson did not back calls for an overall cap on numbers, but said legal migration “must come down quickly”. He said: We’ve set out the biggest-ever reduction in legal migration, we retain the ability to go further. We do think it is something that the public wants us to do. The prime minister is certainly of the view that legal migration has been too high – it must come down, and it must come down quickly. Northern Ireland to get more than £3bn if DUP deal leads to resumption of power sharing, Heaton-Harris says Here is a summary of the main points from Chris Heaton-Harris’s press conference at Westminster. Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, said that he would publish details of the deal with the DUP tomorrow and that he expected it to lead to the resumption of power sharing at Stormont. He said: I will tomorrow publish the details of the proposals we have made to secure Northern Ireland’s place in the UK internal market and to strengthen the union. I believe that all the conditions are now in place for the assembly to return. He paid tribute to the DUP and its leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, saying that Donaldson’s main motive was to secure Northern Ireland’s place in the union. He said: I welcome the very significant step from Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the step he took last night. I’m very grateful to Sir Jeffrey and his colleagues for the leadership that he and they have displayed, and the constructive nature of our dialogue over the past few months. Throughout our discussions, it has never been in doubt that Sir Jeffrey’s prime concern was to secure and reinforce Northern Ireland’s place in the union. I would also like to thank the other political parties in Northern Ireland for the patience they have shown during this time. He said the financial package for Northern Ireland worth more than £3bn was still on the table for an incoming executive to spend. He refused to confirm Donaldson’s claim that, under the deal, there would be no checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland and remaining there. (See 9.16am.) Asked about this, he said journalists would have to wait until the deal was published. But he had achieved “a vast array of decent improvements to make sure our internal market works properly, as it should do”, he said. He said the main parties in Northern Ireland entitled to form a power-sharing executive would be meeting today to discuss the deal. He claimed the deal with the DUP involved “significant changes”, but he refused to say what they were. Asked what had changed, he said: There are some significant changes but you will have to wait until the all-party talks are finalised. When I publish the deal in parliament, everyone will see what it is. He said the deal did not affect “in any shape or form” Britain’s ability to diverge from UK rules as a result of Brexit. He said he did not think the Windsor framework would have to be renegotiated as a result of this deal.