The British Parliament will vote today on a new Brexit agreement that would change the status of Northern Ireland. Former Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson have announced they will vote against the deal.
Today, the British Parliament will vote on the new Brexit agreement in a tense situation.
After becoming the country’s prime minister in October Rishi Sun too Northern Ireland’s new trade agreement with the EU is receiving fierce criticism – from Sunak’s own party.
Both former prime ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson have announced that they will vote against the agreement.
According to Johnson, Sunak’s agreement with the EU “would keep Northern Ireland a prisoner of EU legislation” and separate it from the rest of Britain.
The new agreement would change the status of Northern Ireland
The agreement, which the British Parliament will vote on today, would remove the customs border in the Irish Sea.
In the current arrangement, the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, the customs border between Great Britain and the EU country Ireland has passed by sea instead of the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Northern Ireland, which belongs to Great Britain, has thus been allowed to remain part of the European single market even after Great Britain’s departure from the EU.
In the new agreement, Britain could export goods to Northern Ireland with less bureaucracy than to Ireland.
However, EU legislation would still apply there as well.
The unity of the Conservative Party is being tested
The agreement is going through, as the opposition Labor party supports it.
But Sunak’s Conservative Party has several MPs who plan to vote against it.
More precisely, today’s vote will not be a vote on the entire agreement, but on the so-called Stormont brake, which is the most important part of the agreement.
It guarantees Northern Ireland more power to decide on the application of EU legislation in its territory.
More on the topic:
EU and Britain come to an agreement: Northern Ireland’s new trade agreement dissolves the customs border in the Irish Sea
The articles of Brexit are on the table again – this is how the persistent disputes caused by EU separation in Northern Ireland may be resolved