Brexit deal – latest news: No 10 suggests no changes can be made to Windsor Agreement
‘We think we have secured the right deal for all parties in Northern Ireland’, says Downing Street
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There is no room for any changes to be made to the new Brexit deal, No 10 has indicated following the announcement of the “historic” agreement.
Asked if Rishi Sunak might return to Brussels to ask for any changes requested by the DUP, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “Certainly I think you heard the prime minister asked similar questions today. We think we have secured the right deal for all parties in Northern Ireland.
“We stand ready to have further talks with those parties if they have questions about how it works in practice, indeed, we did a great deal of that in the run up to this announcement.”
Mr Sunak travelled to Northern Ireland after securing a deal with the EU that he promised would be a “turning point” for the region after years of post-Brexit tensions.
The so-called Windsor Framework was earlier hailed as “historic” by the European Commission president, who insisted the deal marked a “new chapter” in UK-EU relations at a press conference with the prime minister.
New deal is subject to Vienna Convention, says Sunak
The EU has accepted that the legal basis for the Windsor Framework is in international law, Rishi Sunak has said.
“The EU have also explicitly accepted an important principle in the political declaration,” he told MPs. “It is there in black and white that the treaty is subject to the Vienna Convention. This means that unequivocally the legal basis for the Windsor Framework is in international law.
The PM added: “It puts beyond all doubt that we have now taken back control.”
New deal axes 1,700 pages of EU law, claims Sunak
The new deal with the European Union “scraps 1,700 pages of EU law”, Rishi Sunak has claimed.
The amount of EU law that applies in Northern Ireland is less than 3 per cent, he told MPs.
“And the people of Northern Ireland retain the right to reject that 3 per cent through next year’s consent vote,” he added. “However, that consent vote is about the whole protocol, so it cannot by its nature provide oversight of individual new laws.
“And it does not address the number one challenge to sovereignty made by the protocol – the ability of the EU to impose new or amended goods laws on Northern Ireland without them having a say.
“To address that, today’s agreement introduces a new Stormont brake.”
This will allow the Northern Ireland Assembly to block new laws if such a move has support from 30 members from at least two parties – which then hands the UK government a veto.
Sunak says ban on sausages entering Northern Ireland has been scrapped
The ban on British sausages entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain has been scrapped thanks to the Windsor Framework, Rishi Sunak said.
Speaking in the Commons, the PM said that if the Northern Ireland Protocol was implemented in full, “we would see supermarket lorries needing hundreds of certificates for every individual item, every single document checked, supermarket staples like sausages banned altogether”.
He added: “More delays, more cost, less choice. So today’s agreement fixes all this with a new, permanent legally binding approach to food.”
The PM continued: “Under the protocol, retail food products made to UK standards could not be sold in Northern Ireland. Today’s agreement completely changes that. This means the ban on British products like sausages entering Northern Ireland has now been scrapped.
“If it’s available on supermarket shelves in Great Britain, then it will be available on supermarket shelves in Northern Ireland.”
New deal ‘fixes’ EU state aid law ‘reach-back’, says Sunak
Today’s agreement addresses the so-called “reach-back of EU state aid law”, Mr Sunak said.
It does this by imposing “stringent” new tests. For the EU to argue we’re in breach of their rules, they now have to demonstrate that there is a real genuine and material impact on Northern Ireland’s trade with the EU, Mr Sunak told MPs.
“That is a much higher threshold than the protocol,” he said.
Sunak sets out new ‘green lane’ for goods bound for NI
Here is what Rishi Sunak has said the Commons about the new “green lane” for goods moving to Northern Ireland.
“Core to the problems with the protocol was that it treated goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland as if they were crossing an international customs border,” he told MPs.
“This created extra costs and paperwork for businesses, who had to fill out complex customs declarations. It limited choice for the people of Northern Ireland and it undermined the UK internal market – a matter of identity as well as economics.
“Today’s agreement removes any sense of a border in the Irish Sea and ensures the free flow of trade within the UK. We have secured a key negotiating objective – the introduction of a new green lane for goods destined for Northern Ireland, with a separate red lane for those going to the EU.
“Within the green lane, burdensome customs bureaucracy will be scrapped and replaced with data-sharing of ordinary existing commercial information. Routine checks and tests will also be scrapped. The only checks will be those required to stop smugglers and criminals, and our new green lane will be open to a broad comprehensive range of businesses across the United Kingdom.”
Here are the three objectives of today’s deal, as laid out by Rishi Sunak to MPs:
- First, allowing trade to flow freely within our UK internal market.
- Second, protecting Northern Ireland’s place in our union.
- Third, safeguarding sovereignty and closing the democratic deficit.
MPs laugh as Sunak thanks predecessors for ‘laying the ground’ for deal
MPs have laughed as Rishi Sunak paid tribute to his “predecessors for laying the ground” for today’s deal, forcing the prime minister to pause in his address to the Commons.
Boris Johnson does not appear to be in the Commons chamber for the speech.
Sunak says his Brexit deal ‘does what many said could not be done'
Rishi Sunak has declared that his new Brexit deal “does what many said could not be done”, as he addresses MPs in the Commons.
“After weeks of negotiations, today we have made a decisive breakthrough,” he told MPs. “The Windsor Framework delivers free-flowing trade within the whole United kingdom. It protects Northern Ireland’s place in our union and it safeguards sovereignty for the people of Northern Ireland.
By achieving all this, it protects the delicate balance inherent in the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, and it does what many said could not be done – removing thousands of pages of EU laws and making permanent legally binding changes to the protocol treaty itself.
“That is the breakthrough we have made, those are the changes we will deliver and now is the time to move forward as one United Kingdom.”
Sunak pays tribute to ‘remarkable’ Betty Boothroyd
Rishi Sunak began his statement to MPs by paying tribute to the late Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd.
“She was a remarkable woman who commanded huge admiration and respect as the first female Speaker of this House. She was as firm as she was fair, and she presided over many historic moments in this House, among them the debates on the Belfast Good Friday Agreement,” the PM said.
“Her passion, wit and immeasurable contribution to our democracy will never be forgotten.”
Watch as Rishi Sunak addresses MPs
Rishi Sunak is addressing the Commons about his new Windsor Framework deal. You can watch along here:
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