Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris cites Irish News polling ahead of key Westminster vote

POLLING first published in The Irish News was cited by Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris ahead of Westminster's vote on the Stormont brake.

The Irish News-Institute of Irish Studies-University of Liverpool survey showed support for the Windsor Framework among the north's voters outstrips opposition to the EU-UK deal by almost three-to-one.

Those rejecting the revised post-Brexit trading arrangements outright amount to 16.9 per cent, while 45 per cent support the agreement announced last month.

Around a third of respondents to the survey, which was carried out between March 3-14, neither rejected or endorsed the deal.

The poll also indicated strong cross-community support for the dual market access provided by the Northern Ireland Protocol.

More than three-quarters of nationalists, unionists and so-called others believe the capacity to trade both in the EU single market and the UK's internal market is "vital to the economy of Northern Ireland".

Opposition to dual market access is close to negligible, the survey found, with those rejecting the much coveted trade regime standing at just 1.9 per cent. Around 11.4 per cent of all voters neither agree or disagree.

As MPs prepared for a vote on a statutory instrument to activate the Stormont brake, Mr Heaton-Harris tweeted a number of the poll's findings.

The secretary of state said: "The Windsor Framework is a good deal for the people of Northern Ireland." 

He said the EU-UK deal "removes the Irish Sea border", "restores the free-flow of trade" and "protects Northern Ireland place in our union".

"Today’s vote on the Stormont brake ensures power is put back in the hands of Northern Ireland and Westminster," he said, above a graphic reflecting an element of The Irish News-Institute of Irish Studies-University of Liverpool survey - "3 X more people support the Windsor Framework than oppose it".

The British government won the vote, widely regarded as a indicative vote on the Windsor Framework, by 515 to 29, with the backing of most Tories, Labour and the SNP.

Peter Foster, public policy editor at the Financial Times, also tweeted the poll results.

"Look at this Irish News poll on NI attitudes to Windsor Framework...UK media focussed on DUP MPs and ERG shennanigans misses how broad NI support is," he posted.

Only 23 per cent of DUP voter actively oppose this deal...77 per cent either support or agnostic."#Brexit

However, DUP MP Carla Lockhart was critical of the secretary of state's post.

"This is a far from an accurate representation of the actual Windsor Framework," the Upper Bann MP tweeted.

"Time for the Conservative leadership to remove the spin."

Institute of Irish Studies director Professor Peter Shirlow said: "The secretary of state has evidently read value into the survey which one would assume reflects their consultations with civic society.

"Of course, others chose to point to the detail and delve into the minutiae of the framework. The survey recorded a general reaction and that is its contribution in terms of measuring initial thoughts and understandings."