Chorus of support across the House New Horizons... and more to come

As PM’s deal is welcomed by Tory sceptics, now it hinges on the Unionists

MOST Brexiteer MPs appeared to back Rishi Sunak’s deal last night – but many warned they needed more time to study it and that DUP support would be crucial.

During a late-night debate in the Commons, the Conservatives’ Sir William Cash cautioned that the ‘devil will be in the detail’ and said further clarity was needed on some points before he could vote in favour.

But the deal did receive widespread support across the House with Sir Keir Starmer vowing that Labour would vote for it.

Mark Francois, chairman of the ERG group of Tory Brexiteer MPs, said more time was needed to study the small print to ensure there aren’t ‘any nasty surprises’.

Sir Edward Leigh also encouraged caution, saying DUP support for the deal was needed before many backbenchers can support it.

‘It all depends on our colleagues in the DUP,’ he warned. ‘Many of his [Mr Sunak’s] colleagues on these benches are watching the DUP very carefully and we will go where they go.’ Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith also sought reassurances from the PM over the new ‘Stormont Brake’, the mechanism which Northern Ireland will be

‘Progress secured across a number of areas’

able to trigger to stop future EU laws applying to the province. The DUP is yet to officially declare whether it will back the deal and will take several days to do so while pouring over the legal text.

But some DUP MPs, including Ian Paisley Jr and Sammy Wilson, yesterday suggested they won’t back it.

Mr Wilson said the party was still in ‘fear’ that ‘our position within the UK is not going to be restored by this agreement’, while Mr Paisley warned there were issues over rules around veterinary medicines for animals that needed resolving.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the DUP in Westminster, said that ‘ in broad terms it’s clear significant progress has been secured across a number of areas’, but added that there ‘remain key issues of concern’.

Among these, he said, were that in ‘some sectors of our economy, EU law remains applicable in our part of the UK’.

However, several Brexiteer Tory MPs were less cautious, suggesting Mr Sunak had already succeeded in selling them the deal.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis hailed it as a ‘ spectacular negotiating success’.

He added: ‘Above all, it has introduced the extraordinary mechanism of the Stormont Brake. I’m unaware of any mechanism in any international agreement like the Stormont Brake. It seems to me to be a brilliant piece of negotiation and insightful imagination.’

Dame Andrea Leadsom said it was ‘excellent’ work, adding: ‘It certainly seems to me, that reflecting back over the last five years, at any point in that time, if this deal had been on the table, those of us who are Brexiteers, those of us who are Remainers, those of us who are Unionists would have jumped on it, so I really heartily congratulate the PM.’

Former Cabinet minister Liam Fox said the deal was ‘frankly what many people would not have thought possible’. Speaking before the debate, former Brexit secretary and now Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker revealed he had been considering resigning over the deal up until Sunday.

But he said the ‘clincher’ was the PM securing the Stormont Brake mechanism and called on old Brexit ‘animosities’ to be put aside to get a Commons majority.

He told Sky News: ‘It’s an extraordinary achievement to have this Stormont Brake. I have read the legal text, it’s a real thing.

‘It’s an incredible achievement by Rishi Sunak to have got it and I think it shows a great foresight – equal actually to the Belfast Good Friday Agreement – that the EU has delivered it.’

Tory party deputy chairman Lee Anderson also said he would be backing the deal and believed most of his colleagues will.

Speaking to GB News on former Cabinet minister Jacob ReesMogg’s new show, Mr Anderson said: ‘I think he’s nailed it Jacob. I wasn’t expecting the deal he’s got. But we do say that the devil is in the detail. The DUP have clearly got a few days to sleep on it and come back to us but I think this is more than any other PM has got before so fair play to Rishi.’

Earlier, Mr Rees-Mogg suggested the deal might not be enough for DUP support. Some ERG members have made DUP support conditional on them also being able to vote to approve it.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘[Mr Sunak] has done very well, but I’m not sure he has achieved the objective of getting the DUP back into power-sharing, which is the fundamental point of it.’

BRUSSELS yesterday opened the door to Britain rejoining the EU’s Horizon scientific research programme – amid hopes that the Northern Ireland deal could unlock a swathe of benefits for the UK.

Addressing the Prime Minister as ‘Dear Rishi’, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the signing of the Windsor Framework will foster a ‘stronger EU-UK relationship’.

The deal marked a clear thawing of tensions. Mrs von der Leyen welcomed the stronger ties and said Britain and the EU would stand ‘as close partners, shoulder-to-shoulder, now and in the future’.

She said Brussels will start the ball rolling on the UK joining the Horizon research programme, unlocking a recent major point of tension.

The improved relationship also brings hope that the EU might allow British holidaymakers to go through passport control without queuing.

It could also go on to help allow smoother passage at Britain’s sea ports.