Former prime minister Boris Johnson has said he is going to vote against the first part of the government’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.
The Windsor Framework was agreed by Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 27 February to change the way the Northern Ireland Protocol operates.
The first vote on the Windsor Framework will take place on Wednesday afternoon, when MPs will decide whether they want to back the Stormont brake or not.
Mr Johnson said the proposed new arrangements would mean the “whole of the UK” was unable “properly to diverge and take advantage of Brexit”.
“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,” he said.
“That is not acceptable. I will be voting against the proposed arrangements today.
“Instead, the best course of action is to proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, and make sure that we take back control.”
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The Northern Ireland Protocol was agreed by Mr Johnson as part of his “oven ready” Brexit deal to prevent a hardening of the land border on the island of Ireland – which all sides agreed was necessary to preserve peace.
But it led to trade barriers being created between Great Britain and NI, effectively creating a customs border down the Irish sea – something the former prime minister promised would not happen.
The Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is legislation Mr Johnson sought to pass when he was in Downing Street, which would have overridden parts of the Brexit deal he agreed.
It soured relations with the EU, who said the move would breach international law, and Mr Sunak paused this bill while attempting to negotiate a new deal.
