claim: If 45 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly vote to revoke the Northern Ireland Protocol, then the Protocol goes.
evidence: Under the terms of Article 18, the Northern Ireland Assembly has the power (after 31 December 2024) to decide whether to terminate or continue the protocol arrangements. "The Withdrawal Agreement doesn't state how Northern Ireland should give consent [to continue] – it is for the UK to determine how that decision is made" but the UK Government has already declared that the decision will be made by a simple majority of Assembly members.[10] In the event that consent is not given, the arrangements would cease to apply two years thereafter. The Joint Committee would make alternative proposals to the UK and EU to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. If consent is given, then the question may be put again after a further four years.[10] At the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election, parties favouring continuance of the protocol won 53 of the 90 seats.[11] Nevertheless, Northern Ireland's Unionist parties objected strongly to the protocol: protesting against it, the Democratic Unionist Party obstructed its operation and, until early February 2024, prevented the Northern Ireland Assembly from assembling.[12]