Boris Johnson reveals he’ll vote AGAINST Rishi Sunak’s Northern Ireland Brexit deal today as he faces Partygate quiz
BORIS Johnson today revealed he will vote AGAINST Rishi Sunak's new Northern Ireland Brexit deal.
In a major snub to his successor, the ex-PM will join the Democratic Unionist Party and former party leaders Liz Truss and Sir Iain Duncan Smith opposing the Windsor Framework in the Commons this afternoon.
In a statement ahead of his Partygate grilling later today, Boris slammed the deal as "unacceptable".
He said: "The proposed arrangements would mean either that Northern Ireland remained captured by the EU legal order - and was increasingly divergent from the rest of the UK - or they would mean that the whole of the UK was unable properly to diverge and take advantage of Brexit.
"That is not acceptable. I will be voting against the proposed arrangements today."
Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker hit back at Ms Truss and Mr Johnson, blasting the latter as a "pound shop Farage".
He said: "They're both better than this.
"These measures are better than the Protocol that Boris put in place - a protocol that which he spoke about and those things turned out not to be accurate.
"He's got a choice. He can be remembered for the great acts of statecraft that he achieved or he can risk looking like a pound shop Nigel Farage".
Mr Sunak was hailed by MPs from all wings of his party when he unveiled the long-awaited Windsor Framework last month.
But today 11 of them confirmed it won't have their backing.
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The PM and EU boss Ursula von der Leyen agreed on the historic to end the so-called “sausage wars” that saw two years of border chaos over goods and trade.
Goods will now freely flow into the province from the mainland unrestricted, with Northern Ireland brought back under Westminster’s tax and VAT regime.
But Euro judges will still have some say over trade rules in the province.
Boris insisted that instead of giving caving to the EU, Mr Sunak should've stuck to the old Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would've allowed Westminster to override the EU in the province.
"The best course of action is to proceed with Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, and make sure that we take back control," he said.
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On Monday the PM was dealt his first major blow when unionist MPs announced they'll “unanimously” reject the Windsor Framework.
Mr Sunak had been courting DUP leader Sir Jeffery Donaldson, with some in No10 hoping he could be convinced to abstain in Wednesday’s crunch vote.
But this week he said while the Windsor Framework represented "significant progress" in addressing concerns with the Northern Ireland Protocol, it does not deal with some of the "fundamental problems at the heart of our current difficulties".
Yesterday a further blow was dealt when Eurosceptics MPs in the European Research Group branded a crucial element of Mr Sunak's Brexit deal as “practically useless”.
The ERG this morning formally recommended its members vote against the deal.
But the group is still split between MPs who think its the best comprise they'll get and hardcore detractors.
ERG Chair Mark Francois told TalkTV: "I personally will vote against it although I can't speak for the whole of the group."
If Tory MPs do rebel, it's expected to be in numbers ranging from 11 - 30.
But the deal will pass through Parliament either way because Sir Keir Starmer ordered Labour to vote with the Government.
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The number of Tory MPs that follow Boris will indicate how tight a grip Mr Sunak has over his famously restless party.
It will also show how much loyalty Boris still has among his biggest backers.