Tory Brexiteers criticise Rishi Sunak’s ‘practically useless’ new Brexit deal

Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal does not restore Northern Ireland’s place in the union, a group of eurosceptic Tory MPs has warned, ahead of a crunch vote on Wednesday.

The European Research Group (ERG) criticised the Windsor agreement struck with the EU, saying that it falls well short of delivering what the Prime Minister promised.

But in a boost to No 10 its chairman, Mark Francois, suggested that the 30-strong grouping may not take a unanimous decision to oppose the pact in the Commons.

Downing Street has insisted that it will not be making any changes to the deal after the DUP said that it will vote against its implementation on Wednesday.

The ERG had tasked a ‘Star Chamber’ of lawyers and senior MPs with going through the Windsor Framework to check whether it matched up to Government rhetoric.

Mr Francois said: “The Star Chamber’s principal findings are that EU law will still be supreme in Northern Ireland, the rights of its people under the 1800 Act of Union are not restored, the ‘green lane’ is not really a ‘green lane’ at all, the Stormont Brake is practically useless, and the framework itself has no exit other than through a highly complex legal process.”

His remarks came after Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s chief whip in Westminster, vowed his party will continue to “fight” for improvements to the deal.

“We got the negotiation, but we didn’t get the outcome so we have to continue the fight, and we will continue the fight,” he said.

In its findings the ERG said that Mr Sunak’s claim the deal amounted to a complete rewriting of the Protocol were “not correct”. 

It said the agreement only achieved “limited easings from the Irish Sea border customs and regulatory requirements” that would not benefit Northern Irish businesses. 

The group also found that the ‘Stormont Brake’ mechanism, on which MPs will vote on Wednesday, “is of very narrow application in theory and is likely to be useless in practice”. 

Under the brake new EU laws can be blocked from applying to Northern Ireland if 30 assembly members from two parties or more object to them.

But the decision on whether to wield the veto will rest with No 10, which may choose not to if no new regulatory barriers between GB and NI will be created.

Even if the UK were to pull the brake, Brussels would be able to take trade countermeasures if it disagreed with the decision.

The ERG said as a result the deal “risks incentivising the UK and its future governments to copy future EU rules and adjustments to existing EU rules so as to avoid the imposition of new checks across the Irish Sea”. 

It added the pact creates “an incredibly dangerous precedent of allowing the EU to make regulations which apply only within the territory of Northern Ireland, a precedent which could be turned against the UK in future”.