Rishi Sunak WINS crunch vote on Brexit deal as Boris Johnson-led Tory rebellion is squashed
RISHI Sunak today won a thumping majority for his Brexit deal after blunting a Tory rebellion led by Boris Johnson.
The PM’s Windsor Framework sailed through the Commons by 515 votes to 29 as a feared backbench revolt melted away.
Despite jitters in No10 of a wider mutiny, only a handful of Tory MPs joined the Democratic Unionist Party and voted against.
And with added support from Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP the agreement cleared with a whopping majority of 486.
It is a fresh win for Mr Sunak after a well-received Budget and bagging a breakthrough pay deal with nurses to halt strike action.
He won round colleagues after a flurry of talks to sell his Windsor Framework.
But he suffered an awkward wobble as three of his predecessors and a slew of Brexiteer backbenchers opposed him.
Former Tory leaders Mr Johnson, Liz Truss and Iain Duncan Smith voted against Mr Sunak’s plan to solve the impasse in Northern Ireland.
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Ex-Cabinet Ministers Sir Jake Berry, Priti Patel and Simon Clarke also opposed the Bill.
Eyebrows were also raised after 48 Conservative MPs abstained from voting.
BoJo – who is today giving evidence on Partygate – earlier said the deal with Brussels was “unacceptable” because it would leave the province at the mercy of Euro judges.
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.”
The PM’s press secretary would not say if he was disappointed his predecessor’s had voted against his Brexit agreement.
But Northern Ireland Minister Steve Baker accused Mr Johnson of acting like a “pound shop Farage”.
Yesterday the backbench European Research Group of Tory MPs blasted the flagship Strasbourg Brake as “practically useless”.
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The mechanism allows Northern Irish MPs to cast aside bits of EU law it does not like.
The Democratic Unionist Party also “unanimously” voted against the deal with similar reservations.
The PM and EU boss Ursula von der Leyen agreed on the historic deal 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.
Sir Keir Starmer had vowed to support Mr Sunak’s Brexit deal to help solve the political deadlock in Northern Ireland.
His backing deterred some Tory MPs from supporting the government.
Jacob Rees-Mogg warned: “Once you see the Labour Party supporting it, you have to wonder if it’s as good as it’s cracked up to be.”
The Windsor framework at a glance
Trade
RED tape will be cut on goods and parcels passing from GB to Northern Ireland via a new “green lane”, while items destined for the Irish Republic inside the EU will go in a “red lane”.
Chilled meats like sausages, which were banned under the old protocol, can move freely like other products.
Plant ban lifted
PREVIOUSLY banned popular plants like English oak trees and seed potatoes will once again be widely available to be sold in Northern Ireland without hugely burdensome checks.
This will be by using a similar Plant Passport scheme that already exists in GB.
Stormont brake
NORTHERN Ireland can ignore any new EU law if 30 Assembly Members from at least two parties disagree.
Only the PM can then intervene to veto this “Stormont Brake”.
But it requires the currently-collapsed Assembly at Stormont to be restored, and the EU could take action if used too often.
Euro judges
THE role of the European Court of Justice is significantly reduced as its oversight of issues like medicines and food safety are removed.
The government says that the deal scraps 1,700 pieces of EU law meaning that fewer than three per cent of Brussels rules will apply.
VAT, tax, state aid
NORTHERN Ireland will apply UK changes to VAT and excise duties, meaning there will be cheaper pints for punters thanks to Mr Sunak’s alcohol reforms.
State aid subsidies like the energy package help will also now apply there too — which are set in Westminster.
Pets
PETS can also now travel freely with their owners across the UK, without expensive health treatments like rabies or documentation paperwork from a vet being required.
Pet owners in Northern Ireland won’t have to do a thing when it comes to travelling over to GB.