³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

The Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has indicated that MPs could get a vote on the new Windsor Framework within the next three weeks.

He also confirmed that the government is bringing forward secondary legislation setting out how the Stormont brake will work.

Mr Heaton-Harris said the government would be "bound" to veto new EU legislation if MLAs raised concerns.

He added that an assessment would be carried out before a decision was made.

Speaking on a visit to a garden centre outside Belfast, he said: "We will publish a statutory instrument in the next couple of weeks that will demonstrate that what we say it is going to do it will do."

He said when the Stormont brake is pulled it will go to the UK EU joint committee where the UK government will be "bound" to veto new EU legislation "based on the conditions" laid out in the papers which have been published.

"We are trying to make sure people see it in black and white so they understand what it means," he added.

The secretary of state also set out a possible timeline for the Windsor Framework to go before parliament for a vote.

He said the EU parliament will have "its say" next week and there is one more EU stage which will take between two and three weeks.

"We will be having a vote in parliament in a similar timeline."