Tory Eurosceptics have panned Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal ahead of a crunch vote on Wednesday, warning that its central plank is “likely to be useless in practice”.
The European Research Group (ERG) delivered a withering assessment of the agreement struck with the EU, saying it fails to restore Northern Ireland’s place in the union.
In a damning dossier, it attacked Number 10 for making “misleading” claims about how the pact will remove swathes of EU law from the province and ditch border checks.
But despite the criticism Mark Francois, the ERG chairman, suggested the 30-strong group may not take a joint decision to oppose the deal in the Commons.
He said its members will meet on Wednesday morning to “discuss what attitude, if any, to take”, adding: “We don’t want to be hoist by our own petard.”
Asked whether its MPs may abstain, he said: “The group hasn’t taken a decision yet, and ultimately it will be down to every individual colleague in the group.”
Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was signed in 2020, Northern Ireland remained in the EU single market to avoid the need for a hard border with the Republic.
Instead, checks on goods were moved into the Irish Sea, creating new red tape barriers between businesses in Great Britain and the province.
Negotiations to fix problems created by the sea border began in 2021, but stalled until Mr Sunak became Prime Minister and improved relations with the EU. Last month, he signed the Windsor Framework with Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, which he said would restore Northern Ireland’s place in the union.
But the ERG’s legal assessment of the pact, drawn up by a “star chamber” of lawyers and MPs, has concluded that it falls well short of what he promised.
His central claim that the agreement fundamentally rewrites the protocol is “not correct”, according to the report, which says the original deal “remains intact”.
It found that under the deal “EU law will still be supreme in Northern Ireland” and will come “automatically under the jurisdiction” of the European Court of Justice.
Meanwhile, the rights of people in the province under the 1800 Act of Union, which ensured its equal treatment in trade matters, “are not restored by the agreement”.
The “star chamber” attacked the “green lane”, under which goods will be able to travel checks free from Great Britain to…
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