Boris Johnson might not support Rishi Sunak’s Northern Ireland deal

Former prime minister Boris Johnson might not be open to supporting a proposed deal over the Northern Ireland protocol from the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Guardian report suggests. The prime minister is now under pressure to revive a controversial bill that would unilaterally override parts of the Brexit treaty. It has emerged that lawyers advising Eurosceptics in the Conservative party have submitted fresh proposals to Sunak to end the rule of EU law in Northern Ireland. Notably, it is one of the points of contention in the UK-EU negotiations.

The proposals have been sent to Downing Street, senior ministers and the European Commission. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris is in Brussels for more talks with the commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič.

Also Read |UK PM Rishi Sunak faces potential rebellion from Tory MPs over Northern Ireland Protocol Bill

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Johnson spoke to Sky News on the matter and said that it was “important that we wait to see what there may be” in Sunak’s deal. “I think the best way forward, as I said when I was running the government, is the Northern Ireland bill, which, you know, cleared the Commons very comfortably, I think unamended, when I was in office only a few months ago. So I think that’s the best way forwards," he added.

The bill will let UK remove some Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, especially parts of the protocol disliked by traders. However, critics say that this would breach international law and the EU might hit back with tariffs on imports from Britain.

Johnson said, “It’s a very good bill. It fixes all the problems. It solves the problems that we have in the Irish Sea, solves the problems of paperwork, VAT and so on. It’s an excellent bill and doesn’t set up any other problems in the economy of the whole island of Ireland. So I’d go with that one.”

The proposal submitted by Eurosceptics’ legal advisers suggested that any businesses who export to the EU, found breaching European regulations would be prosecuted in British courts rather than the European court of justice.

Earlier, Guardian had reportedthat 100 MPs have expressed their disapproval of the deal with the European Union to help break the post-Brexit deadlock in Northern Ireland.

(With inputs from agencies)

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