First Minister Michelle O’Neill, of Sinn Féin, said other parties had not been informed of the DUP’s actions and warned it could potentially cause instability for businesses in Northern Ireland.
The leader of the official opposition at Stormont, Matthew O’Toole, described the use of the brake as “a stunt”.
“We warned that the so-called Stormont brake would be used for crude partisan purposes and so it has proven,” the Social Democratic and Labour Party assembly member said.
Ahead of the decision, Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said that his party had “no illusions” about the limitations of the brake.
“The main impact of this experience must be to demonstrate to ourselves that no self-respecting people can willingly submit to this kind of injustice as a long-term arrangement,” he added.
“Rather than working with this injustice, accommodating it, going forward unionism needs to stand united against it.”
