Tory ERG blasts Rishi Sunak's Brexit change as 'practically useless' as PM faces needing Labour to pass deal
21 March 2023, 16:28 | Updated: 21 March 2023, 17:45
Rishi Sunak's hopes of passing his Brexit deal with the EU without needing Labour's help took a hit after Eurosceptic Tories described one part of the agreement as "practically useless".
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The mechanism is meant to stop EU law automatically applying to Northern Ireland without politicians there having a say on it.
The ERG chairman Mark Francois spoke after the so-called "Star Chamber" of lawyers tasked with looking over the Windsor Framework, agreed between Mr Sunak and the EU, delivered their verdict.
He said: "The Star Chamber's principal findings are: that EU law will still be supreme in Northern Ireland; the rights of its people under the 1800 Act of Union are not restored; the green lane is not really a green lane at all; the Stormont brake is practically useless; and the framework itself has no exit, other than through a highly complex legal process."
Read more: DUP to vote against Rishi Sunak's Windsor Framework in blow to new Brexit deal
The ERG's report said the framework makes only "limited legal changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol".
The group was expected to fall in with the DUP, which already said it would vote against the framework.
It may not disrupt the deal yet, as Labour is due to support the Government in a vote in the Commons.
"The DUP have made their position very plain - they are going to vote against. We, to some degree, have been critical of the Government for not allowing people enough time to digest everything," Mr Francois said, pointing out the secondary legislation on the Stormont brake was only published on Monday.
He said the group will meet again on Wednesday, when ERG members have had chance to "digest" it, then decide what "attitude… to take" before PMQs.
Rishi Sunak's spokesman said: "Certainly on a factual basis, the legal default in domestic and international law is automatic alignment to EU standards and rules for goods, which is currently the case under the grace periods as well as the full implementation of the old protocol.
"So any change to EU rules on goods would automatically apply in Northern Ireland without any say for Stormont.
"So the framework is the only avenue by which that default can change.
"A vote against the brake, in factual terms, would lead to automatic alignment with the EU with no say at all."
