Rishi in hot seat as Boris is grilled
LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will hold a vote on his new Brexit deal on Wednesday – the same day former PM Boris Johnson will appear before MPs investigating his statements regarding the infamous Downing Street parties.
The Prime Minister will put the Stormont brake, one of the pivotal features of his Windsor framework, to a vote in the Commons after prime minister’s questions.
The brake is designed to give Northern Irish politicians a way of blocking new EU laws from coming into effect in the province.
Mr Johnson said this month that he would find it “very difficult” to vote for Mr Sunak’s deal because “this is not about the UK taking back control”.
He argued that the EU was trying to use Northern Ireland to keep the whole of the UK in the regulatory orbit of Brussels.
The European Research Group of Brexiteer Conservative MPs, many of them among Mr Johnson’s most committed supporters, will receive the verdict of its so-called star chamber of lawyers before Wednesday’s vote.
Some Conservative MPs will also be looking to the verdict of the Democratic Unionist Party.
Three of its eight MPs have said they do not support the agreement but Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the party’s leader, has been more positive while indicating he needed changes to win his support.
A senior Whitehall source said they expected Sir Jeffrey and the other four DUP MPs who have not yet expressed a definitive view to abstain from the vote.
In any event, Mr Sunak has signalled that he is not willing to change the deal.
Labour have said they will vote for the deal, meaning that it is all but certain to pass. However, a significant Conservative rebellion could be politically risky for Mr Sunak.
The vote will take place around the same time as Mr Johnson is being questioned by the privileges committee.