Brexit deal – latest news: No 10 suggests no changes can be made to Windsor Agreement
‘We think we have secured the right deal for all parties in Northern Ireland’, says Downing Street
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Your support makes all the difference.There is no room for any changes to be made to the new Brexit deal, No 10 has indicated following the announcement of the “historic” agreement.
Asked if Rishi Sunak might return to Brussels to ask for any changes requested by the DUP, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “Certainly I think you heard the prime minister asked similar questions today. We think we have secured the right deal for all parties in Northern Ireland.
“We stand ready to have further talks with those parties if they have questions about how it works in practice, indeed, we did a great deal of that in the run up to this announcement.”
Mr Sunak travelled to Northern Ireland after securing a deal with the EU that he promised would be a “turning point” for the region after years of post-Brexit tensions.
The so-called Windsor Framework was earlier hailed as “historic” by the European Commission president, who insisted the deal marked a “new chapter” in UK-EU relations at a press conference with the prime minister.
King Charles meets EU chief at Windsor Castle after Brexit deal agreed
The King has welcomed EU chief Ursula von der Leyen to Windsor Castle after she agreed to a historic post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, reports my colleague Martha McHardy.
Charles was pictured warmly shaking hands with the president of the European Commission at the royal residence on Monday afternoon before they were served tea.
Topics covered included climate change and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it is not known if Northern Ireland was on the agenda.
King Charles meets EU chief at Windsor Castle after Brexit deal agreed
Ursula Von der Leyen travelled to Windsor after holding a joint press conference with Rishi Sunak
Senior Tory MP congratulates Sunak on deal, urges ‘speedy’ vote
Simon Hoare, chair of the Northern Ireland affairs committee, congratulated the PM on the “serious and beneficial outcomes” of his deal.
But the senior Tory figure urged Mr Sunak to hold any vote “speedily” to draw a line under the matter and offer “certainty” to the people of Northern Ireland.
SNP Westminster leader ‘supportive’ of Sunak’s new deal
The SNP’s Westminster leader has said he is supportive of Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal with the EU.
“Broadly speaking, I am fully supportive” of the Windsor Framework, Stephen Flynn told MPs, but insisted “we cannot and we should not forget the damage which has been done by leaving the European Union”.
Mr Flynn went on: “I just find it astonishing that we have a situation where the leader of the Labour Party and the leader of the Conservative Party are hand in glove when it comes to their position on Brexit.”
The SNP Westminster leader also argued “what this deal does not do is create parity for the nations of these islands”, adding: “It means that businesses in Northern Ireland have access to the single market, whereas businesses in Scotland do not.
“I do not begrudge the people and businesses of Northern Ireland but I regret that Scotland does not have those same opportunities. So on that point, can the prime minister just clarify why Scotland is at a significant disadvantage in that regard on his watch?”
Rishi Sunak replied: “I am a passionate unionist and I will always believe that our Union is stronger when we are together. And Scotland will always, alongside Northern Ireland, Wales, be part of what makes this country great and we will fight, we will fight day in and day out to protect that Union.”
David Davis: ‘A spectacular negotiating success'
Conservative former minister and staunch Brexit supporter David Davis has given his backing to the deal, describing it as “a spectacular negotiating success”.
Paying tribute to the Stormont brake in particular, he added: “I am unaware of any mechanism in any international agreement like the Stormont brake. It seems to me a brilliant piece of negotiating insight and imagination.
“Could he explain to the House, because we won’t all know in detail, can he explain to the House exactly how this mechanism will work and what its limitations will be?”
Rishi Sunak said Mr Davis was a “Brexiteer of longstanding credentials”, adding: “To have his support means a lot to me and the Government, and I thank him for it.”
The Prime Minister reiterated that the brake was based on similar mechanisms in the Good Friday Agreement, adding: “Once that emergency brake is pulled it will give the UK government a veto. It is a very powerful cross-community safeguard mechanism that ensures sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland and it is part of why this agreement is the right one for the people of Northern Ireland.”
Tory former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith urged the Government to give “time and space and encouragement” to Northern Ireland’s different political parties “to restore powersharing and to ensure that political decision-making in Northern Ireland can start as soon as possible”.
Starmer urges Sunak to be ‘utterly unlike his predecessor'
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has urged Rishi Sunak “to be utterly unlike his predecessor”, as he responded to the prime minister’s Commons statement on his new Brexit deal.
He added: “Do not pretend the deal is something it is not, where there are trade-offs to be made, argue the case for them. Treat unionists with the respect of frank honesty, not the contempt of bluster.
“Because in this 25th anniversary year of the Good Friday Agreement, we must again embrace compromise and put division behind us.
“This deal is not perfect, but because we recognise that the UK agreed to the protocol and has an obligation to make it work, because we recognise that for the protocol to work there will inevitably be trade-offs and because we always recognise that peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland is hard won, Labour will support the Windsor Framework.”
Starmer welcomes new ‘red and green lanes’
Sir Keir Starmer said it was “good that the deal before us will see fewer unnecessary checks on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, adding the “red and green lane proposal is a good one” and “it has our full support”.
He said: “This agreement will allow us to move forward as a country rather than be locked in endless disputes with our allies. It will improve our diplomatic standing, which has been damaged by the government’s previous threats to break international law.”
Sir Keir added: “We must be honest, this comes with trade-offs. The right honourable member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip [Boris Johnson] told the people of Northern Ireland that his protocol meant no forms, no checks, no barriers of any kind on goods crossing the Irish Sea under Brexit, that was absolute nonsense.”
He went on: “It inevitably contributed to the collapse of powersharing in Northern Ireland, and I have to say, as the prime minister listed all the problems with the protocol I did rather wonder whether he’d forgotten who negotiated it.”
We have an obligation to make protocol work, says Starmer
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer told the Commons: “The protocol will never be perfect – it’s a compromise.
“But I’ve always been clear that if implemented correctly it is an agreement that can work in the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement.
“And now that it has been agreed we all have an obligation to make it work.”
Labour will support Brexit deal, says Starmer
Responding to Rishi Sunak’s statement on his new Brexit deal, Sir Keir Starmer said the Labour Party would support the deal and committed not to “play political games”.
Sir Keir told the Commons he was “deeply saddened” by the shooting of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell.
He said: “DCI Caldwell’s shooting is a reminder that we must continue to strive for peace, that we in the House must take our obligations under the Good Friday Agreement and to the people of Northern Ireland as seriously as they do.
“It is in that spirit that I have been clear for some time that if the Prime Minister were to get an agreement with the EU, and if their agreement is in the interest of this country and Northern Ireland, then Labour would support it.
“And we will stick to our word. We will not snipe, we will not seek to play political games, and when the Prime Minister puts this deal forward for a vote, Labour will support it and vote for it.”
Government to drop controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, Sunak confirms
Rishi Sunak has confirmed that the government’s controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill would be dropped following the new agreement, explaining that the legal justification for it had lapsed.
He told MPs: “Now that we’ve persuaded the EU to fundamentally rewrite the treaty texts of the protocol, we have a new and better option.”
Mr Sunak said the new agreement can start delivering “benefits almost immediately” for Northern Ireland.
On the updated legal position for the Bill, Mr Sunak said: “It says because we have achieved a new negotiated agreement which preserves the balance of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, the original and sound justification legally for the Bill has now fallen away.
“In other words, neither do we need the Bill nor do we have a credible basis to pursue it. As such, we will no longer proceed with the Bill and the European Union will no longer proceed with their legal actions against the UK.”
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