Penny Mordaunt says Boris Johnson’s Brexit intervention ‘helpful’ and ‘lots to be done’ before deal is reached
Penny Mordaunt said Boris Johnson’s Brexit intervention is “helpful” as there is “there’s still a lot to be done” to secure a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
In a move that could trigger a new Tory civil war on Brexit, a source close to the former prime minister told Sky News: “His general thinking is that it would be a great mistake to drop the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill (NIPB).”
This is in relation to controversial legislation introduced by Mr Johnson which gives ministers power to rip up parts of the protocol and ignore EU rules.
Politics live: Labour peer warns ex-PM not to ‘wreck’ negotiations
Mr Sunak is battling to reach a new deal over post Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland to avoid needing the bill, which Brussels has warned is “illegal and unrealistic”.
Asked about the warning from Mr Johnson, the Commons Leader told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday (SROS) programme: “Boris is being Boris
“I wouldn’t say this is this is a completely unhelpful intervention.
“The prime minister will acknowledge that having the Northern Ireland protocol bill there, having the work that the former prime minister did, has helped us get where we are.
“But it has always been our preference to try and have a negotiated settlement and that is what everyone is working to. There’s still a lot to be done.”
Ms Mordaunt is the latest senior politician to warn there is still some way to go yet before a deal is reached, following mounting speculation of a breakthrough in talks.
Rishi Sunak said on Saturday that while Britain and the EU have an understanding on what needs to be done to resolve issues surrounding the protocol a deal is “by no means done”.
Boris ‘should be quiet and not wreck deal’
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Lord Mandelson says Boris Johnson should stay silent and not seek to ‘wreck’ a Brexit deal
Labour peer Lord Mandelson told Sky News Mr Johnson should “be quiet” and not seek to “wreck” a deal for the sake of opposing the prime minister.
“There’s nothing that Boris is doing now, or indeed throughout our recent history with the European Union that could possibly be described as ‘helpful’,” said the former Northern Ireland secretary, who was responsible for implementing the Good Friday Agreement.
“He and his supporters want to undermine the prime minister. It’s just a sort of continuation of the fratricidal war that we see in the Conservative Party.”
The government is under pressure to resolve the row which has left Northern Ireland without a functioning devolved government since early last year.
The protocol was agreed between the EU and Mr Johnson as part of the Brexit agreement in 2020 in order to avoid a hard physical border on the island of Ireland.
Read More:
What is the Northern Ireland Protocol and why does it matter?
Northern Ireland Protocol deal ‘by no means done’ says Rishi Sunak
But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Belfast is angry about the economic barriers to trade it has created on goods moving between NI and the rest of the UK, and is refusing to form an executive at Stormont until it is abandoned or replaced.
Ms Mordaunt stressed any deal to fix the protocol must be supported by the the DUP, suggesting it would not work if the European Court of Justice (ECJ) retains an oversight role.
“Unless this deal is satisfactory to all communities in Northern Ireland, it won’t be possible, it’s not going to work,” she said.
“The DUP’s tests that they have referred to are not a random wishlist, they are promises that we have made to the people of Northern Ireland. That is the bar that this deal has to get over and and I know that the prime minister is completely focused on that.”
The role of the ECJ has been a key sticking point in negotiations, with the DUP and many Tory MPs on the right of the party also opposed to it.
Because Northern Ireland is still subject to EU trade rules, Brussels believes its court should have a heavy involvement in resolving disputes.
While it is understood the EU and UK are close to signing off a deal that would reduce protocol red tape on the movement of goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, there is no expectation that Brussels is willing to agree to end the application of EU law in the region.
The EU contends that a fundamental plank of the protocol – namely that Northern Ireland traders can sell freely into the European single market – is dependent on the operation of EU rules there.
ECJ ‘symbolic issue’ for Tory MPs
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said the role of the ECJ has become a “symbolic” issue for certain quarters of the Tory party and urged the government to take a “common sense” approach to the issue which just “simplifies the process” for trade.
She repeated that Labour would provide “political cover” to Mr Suank by supporting his deal if he faces trouble from Conservative rebels, saying it is in “the national interest” to find a resolution.
“This is about making Brexit work,” she said.
On the ECJ, she said: “There’s going to have to be some kind of dispute resolution process so we should just be really pragmatic… about approaching that.
“I really hope that that is the approach that ministers are taking.”
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Former Brexit Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has backed the DUP’s position
However, former business secretary and leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees Mogg backed the DUP’s position over the Northern Ireland Protocol as “extremely reasonable”.
He told Sky News the seven tests set out by the DUP in July 2021 “are absolutely the right tests”.
“I think the DUP’s position is extremely reasonable, that it why I am supporting it,” he said.
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
UN climate summits ‘no longer fit for purpose’
The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
Read more:
No 10 indicates Netanyahu would be arrested
‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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