Keir Starmer insists Brexit agreement with EU is a ‘bad deal’
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Rishi Sunak is heading to Belfast for a last-minute meeting tonight, as a deal on the controversial Northern Ireland Protocol appears to be imminent. An announcement on the protocol is expected next week, potentially as early as Tuesday, if the final issues can be resolved. While both Downing Street and EU leaders are thought to be edging to an agreement, members of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party expressed concern over the reported deal.
While reports suggested the new deal would meet the DUP’s seven red lines, MPs have cast doubt that any agreement would do so as a result of concerns that the European Court of Justice will maintain a role in policing the protocol.
A bigger role for the ECJ would stall any progress in solving the issue, as it would be unacceptable for both the DUP and for many in the right of the Tory Party.
ERG chief David Jones on Tuesday told the Daily Express that it is “amazingly unlikely” that the DUP’s seven tests have been met.
Mr Sunak is likely to be heading to Northern Ireland in order to iron out the final issues with the DUP.
The Government has stepped up its efforts to resolve issues with the protocol in recent months, in a dispute which has been ongoing since October 2021.
The Prime Minister is also set to meet Ursula von der Leyen in the coming days, as the pair will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an international security conference, held in Munich.
Mr Sunak will head to Munich on Saturday alongside Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
The conference will be attended by EU leaders including German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron.
The deal is expected to involve goods travelling from mainland UK destined for Northern Ireland avoid physical customs checks, as a result of a new system involving “red” and “green” lanes.
He rubbished the idea that the new deal would be any form of major breakthrough, instead describing it as being “weather balloon” floated by the Government, warning that “it will get shot down”.
Meanwhile, DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr said the supposed deal is “still in the realms of speculation”, suggesting that the deal would not be acceptable to the party unless there was no role for the ECJ in policing the protocol.
He said: “The laws of United Kingdom must be sacrosanct.” He said the PM is “always welcome in Belfast and every effort must be made for him to understand just how serious a situation this part of the kingdom is in.
“But he requires laser like focus to solve this problem. He can’t leave a part of the U.K. annexed into a zone to protect eu single market. That is not our job and he can’t leave part of the UK subordinate to EU legal jurisdiction. I suspect he has some distance to travel before he can reach a deal. He may now need to stand up to the EU and let them know he is taking singular action to maintain the kingdom and defend the union and all its people.
“My fear is nothing I have seen offers the basis to restore power sharing.”
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Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the deal is “bound to be a sellout… It’s all heading in the wrong direction. Dire!”
A bigger role for the ECJ would stall any progress in solving the issue, as it would be unacceptable for both the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and for many in the right wing of the Tory Party.
The ERG and the DUP are understood to be working “in lockstep” with one another, both being heavily opposed to the ECJ having any role in policing the protocol.
The Government has stepped up its efforts to resolve issues with the protocol in recent months, in a dispute which has been ongoing since October 2021.
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