UK government refuses unionist request to use post-Brexit Stormont Brake

The UK government has refused a request by Stormont’s unionist parties to trigger a post-Brexit mechanism, known as the Stormont Brake, to prevent a European Union law coming into force in Northern Ireland. Unionist MLAs had backed a DUP motion before Christmas to pull the brake in a bid to stop new EU rules on packaging and labelling of chemicals, such as house cleaning materials and industrial chemicals. On Monday, Northern Secretary Hilary Benn announced that legal tests had not been met to use the mechanism, which is contained in...