Jacob Rees-Mogg has warned Rishi Sunak against trying to “bounce” the DUP into backing his new Brexit deal as the former business secretary suggested such a move would backfire.
The leading Brexiteer said Mr Sunak should have got the “DUP on board first” before finalizing a deal with Brussels to improve the Northern Ireland Protocol because any agreement must be “acceptable” to the unionist party.
Mr Rees-Mogg also said the DUP’s view on any deal would be “very influential” with the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteer MPs as he fired an apparent warning shot across the bows of No10.
Speaking to the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme, Mr Rees-Mogg warned Mr Sunak that the DUP will not accept a “fait accompli”.
He said: “I am slightly concerned that we are in a situation we were in before where the Government says officially there is nothing being agreed and we hear from journalists that they are being briefed that actually an agreement has been broadly reached and I don I don’t think that is a brilliant way of getting the DUP on board.
“I think you need to get the DUP on board first and then go and talk to Brussels rather than try and bounce the DUP because the DUP doesn’t respond well to being bounced.”
Mr Sunak is in the process of finalizing a deal to fix post-Brexit border arrangements in Northern Ireland but there are concerns among Brexiteers and the DUP that the changes will not go far enough. The PM had hoped to unveil the plans today before presenting them to the Commons tomorrow but it is now thought that timeline has been pushed back.
You can follow the latest updates below.
08:29 AM
Senior Tory on Boris Johnson’s Brexit intervention: ‘Best thing would be to let the PM get on with this’
Boris Johnson intervened in the Brexit debate at the weekend as he warned Rishi Sunak that ditching the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in favor of a new Brexit deal would be a “great mistake” (you can read the full story here).
Sir Bernard Jenkin, a senior Tory MP and prominent Brexiteer, was asked this morning if the intervention was helpful and he suggested it would be better for people to let Rishi Sunak negotiate in peace.
He told Times Radio: “I would suggest you ask him, although it is interesting that he hasn’t actually said anything on the record, it is all briefing. But I would have thought the best thing would be to let the Prime Minister get on with this.
“I don’t think he has any intention of making an agreement with the EU that reinforces the collapse of powersharing in Northern Ireland. It would be completely disastrous.
“And the other thing I think he understands is that the protocol was only meant to be a temporary measure until it could be replaced by something else, that is what the protocol itself says. It can’t be a long term solution because as regulation in the UK diverges from the EU all the problems will get worse.”
08:16 AM
Tory Brexiteer: Protocol deal will be a non-starter without support of DUP
Rishi Sunak’s deal with Brussels to improve post-Brexit border arrangements in Northern Ireland will be a lame duck from the outset if the DUP does not support it, a leading Tory Brexiteer MP has suggested.
Asked if the deal would be a “non-starter” without DUP backing, Sir Bernard Jenkin told Times Radio: “Yes, because the DUP are the main representative of all the unionist parties in Northern Ireland.
“There is not a single member of the legislative assembly in Northern Ireland representing a unionist party that supports the protocol and their arguments are very fundamental.”
08:13 AM
Senior Tory MP: New Brexit deal must have support of both communities in NI
Sir Bernard Jenkin, a senior Tory MP who chairs the powerful Liaison Committee, said a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol which does not have the backing of both communities in Northern Ireland will “make things worse”.
The leading Brexiteer told Times Radio: “The top line of the Northern Ireland Protocol is that it is there to secure the continuation of the Good Friday Agreement, to protect the Good Friday Agreement.
“But the protocol itself has become a bone of contention in Northern Ireland and it has undermined the Good Friday Agreement, it is destroying the Good Friday Agreement.
“The protocol was simply imposed on Northern Ireland. After the Good Friday Agreement, all key decisions, that’s the words it used, key decisions should be taken by consensus and there was no consensus about the Northern Ireland Protocol.
“So the most important thing at the front of the Prime Minister’s mind, rightly so, is yes, we must compromise, yes we must get a deal, yes we must do everything we can to sort this out, but if it doesn’t get the support of both the communities in Northern Ireland it is probably just going to make things worse because it will cement in place an agreement that has destroyed powersharing in Northern Ireland.”
08:11 AM
Former business secretary warns Rishi Sunak DUP will not be ‘bounced’
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leading Brexiteer, said Rishi Sunak should have got the DUP “on board first” before finalising a Northern Ireland Protocol deal wih the EU as he warned the Prime Minister not to try to “bounce” the unionist party into agreeing to the agreement.
He told the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme: “I am slightly concerned that we are in a situation we were in before where the Government says officially there is nothing being agreed and we hear from journalists that they are being briefed that actually an agreement has been broadly come to and I don’t think that is a brilliant way of getting the DUP on board.
“I think you need to get the DUP on board first and then go and talk to Brussels rather than try and bounce the DUP because the DUP doesn’t respond well to being bounced.”
08:08 AM
Jacob Rees-Mogg: DUP will not accept ‘fait accompli’ Brexit deal
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, has warned Rishi Sunak that the DUP will not accept being presented with a “fait accompli” Brexit deal.
He also said the DUP’s view on the Northern Ireland Protocol fix will be “very influential” with the European Research Group of Tory MPs – an apparent warning shot to the Prime Minister over the shape of the deal with Brussels.
Speaking to the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme: “The DUP’s view is fundamental to this because one of the things that is in the Northern Ireland Protocol itself is that it is subsidiary to the Good Friday Belfast Agreement and in the DUP’s view the Northern Ireland Protocol is not in accordance with that agreement because it made a change ot the constitutional status of Northern Ireland de facto without the support of the unionist community and the view of the DUP will be very influential with the ERG and that is why their tests are so important.
“The Prime Minister needs to be negotiating from what will be acceptable to the DUP and to the voters in Northern Ireland as a starting point rather than trying to present them with a Fait Accompli and say take it or leave it.”