Boris Johnson speech today: what did former PM say about Rishi Sunak’s Northern Ireland Brexit deal?

Boris Johnson has said he would find it “very difficult” to vote for Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland.

Speaking for the first time on the new arrangements that replace his Northern Ireland Protocol, the former Prime Minister said: “I’m going to find it very difficult to vote for something like this myself, because I believed we should’ve done something very different - no matter how much plaster came off the ceiling in Brussels.”

He added that he “hopes” the new agreement will work, but that if it doesn’t, he wants the UK to “have the guts” to once again employ his controversial Northern Ireland Protocol Bill - which would allow the UK to ignore parts of his Brexit deal without the permission of the EU.

It comes after Sunak travelled to Belfast to seek support for his ‘Windsor Framework’ - the new trade deal for Northern Ireland that he secured with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. He so far has received a considerable level of support, with even notorious Brexiteers and Eurosceptics such as Steve Baker and Chris Heaton-Harris publicly voicing their backing.

But members of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are still yet to announce their verdict, with party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson claiming there are still “key areas of concern” - and many Tory MPs have been eagerly awaiting their former boss’s commentary on the deal, which Johnson appears to have now delivered.

Raising his concerns about the ‘Windsor Framework’, the Uxbridge MP continued: “I’m conscious I’m not going to be thanked for saying this, but I think it is my job to do so: we must be clear about what is really going on here.

“This is not about the UK taking back control. And although there are easements, this is really a version of the solution that was being offered last year to Liz Truss when she was Foreign Secretary. This is the EU graciously unbending to allow us [the UK] to do what we want to do in our own country, not by our laws but by theirs.”

Interestingly, the former PM also conceded that he had made mistakes in signing his Northern Ireland Protocol, which ultimately caused the DUP to walk out of powersharing in Stormont due to trade barriers. He explained: “I thought those checks would not be onerous since there isn’t that much stuff that falls into that category - most of the goods stay in Northern Ireland.”

Then, as an aside, he continued: “It’s all my fault, I fully accept responsibility.” The ‘apology’ was said as a joke, but it was still a concession of sorts to Sunak - who was left to renegotiate the divisive deal.

Sunak has confirmed that MPs will be given a vote on his new deal, but has not yet confirmed when - saying the DUP should be given “time and space” to consider what he agreed with the EU.

Meanwhile, a Downing Street spokesperson told reporters earlier today that ministers were “open” to answering questions on the Windsor Framework, adding that some people are “misunderstanding” it.

Speaking just after the announcement of the deal, Sunak told MPs in the House of Commons that he had achieved “free-flowing trade with a green lane for goods, no burdensome customs bureaucracy, no routine checks on trade, no paperwork for Northern Irish goods moving into Great Britain, and no border in the Irish Sea.”

He added that he and von der Leyen had “protected Northern Ireland’s place in the Union” and urged MPs to vote for his agreement as it “what the people of Northern Ireland deserve.”

The Prime Minister concluded: “As a Conservative, a Brexiteer, and a unionist, I believe passionately with my head and my heart that this is the right way forward – right for Northern Ireland, right for our United Kingdom.”

The DUP and other Tory Brexiteers will come out with their opinions on the deal in the coming days or weeks, with the impacts of Johnson’s comments likely to become clearer then.