Boris Johnson: I will vote against Rishi Sunak deal with Brussels on Northern Ireland

Written by Rabab Fathi

Wednesday, March 22, 2023 10:09 AM

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will vote against Rishi Sunak’s Northern Ireland protocol deal on Wednesday.

In a statement published by the British newspaper “Daily Telegraph”, the former prime minister said: “The proposed arrangements would mean that Northern Ireland would continue to be occupied by the EU legal system – and increasingly separate from the rest of the United Kingdom – or that the whole of the United Kingdom would not be able to take advantage of Brexit properly..

He added: “This is unacceptable. I am voting against the proposed arrangements today. Instead, the best course of action is to move forward with the Northern Ireland Ethics Bill and ensure we take back control.” “.

Johnson faces a battle for his political future on Wednesday as he tries to convince a cross-party group of MPs that he inadvertently misled the House of Commons over the ultimate party scandal.

The Guardian newspaper reckons the government could comfortably win a vote in the House of Commons on the Windsor Framework Agreement – the Northern Ireland protocol – signed last month, despite criticism from some harsh Conservatives, backed by Labour. To leave the European Union..

The DUP has already said eight of its MPs will vote against the regulation to apply “Stormonds breaks” – under a protocol agreed by the UK and the EU in 2019, certain EU goods and customs laws apply in Northern Ireland, but Ireland’s politicians do not. A formal way to influence these rules, however, is that the new deal provides a mechanism to allow elected representatives to the Northern Ireland Parliament to object to new freight rules.”