DUP to vote against key part of Windsor Framework over ‘fundamental problems’

Published

1 year ago

March 20, 2023

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The DUP says it will vote against a key aspect of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal when it is put to a crunch vote in parliament this week.

In a statement, party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said while the Windsor Framework represented “significant progress” in addressing concerns with the Northern Ireland Protocol, it does not deal with some of the “fundamental problems at the heart of our current difficulties”.

As a result, they have said they will vote against the first aspect of the deal to be considered by MPs – the Stormont brake.

Politics live: The WhatsApp messages Boris Johnson believes will help vindicate him over partygate

This would allow a minority of politicians in Belfast to formally flag concerns about the imposition of new EU laws in Northern Ireland – a move that could see the UK Government veto their introduction in the region.

Downing Street said this would address the so-called “democratic deficit” caused by the protocol, but Sir Jeffrey said the brake “is not designed for, and therefore cannot apply, to the EU law which is already in place and for which no consent has been given for its application”.

“Whilst representing real progress, the ‘brake’ does not deal with the fundamental issue which is the imposition of EU law by the protocol,” he said.

The DUP’s opposition does not mean the legislation will fail, but it makes the likelihood of the unionist party rejoining powersharing slimmer.

The party pulled out of the arrangement for devolved government in Northern Ireland early last year in protest at the protocol.

The mechanism was agreed by Boris Johnson under his “oven ready” Brexit deal to prevent a hardening of the land border on the island of Ireland – which all sides agreed was necessary to preserve peace.

But it led to trade barriers being created between Great Britain and NI, effectively creating a customs border down the Irish sea – something the former prime minister promised would not happen.

The UK and Brussels agreed the framework as a way to cut the red tape created by the protocol, while giving politicians in Northern Ireland more of a say over EU laws in the region.

Having spent weeks scrutinising Mr Sunak’s deal, the DUP hinted at their opposition earlier on Monday when they released a statement saying “there is more work to do”.

And senior DUP MP Ian Paisley said he would “categorically” vote against the government, saying the framework “did not cut the mustard” when it came to passing the party’s seven tests.

The backlash could pave the way for a wider rebellion, as many Tory Eurosceptics were waiting to see what the DUP said about the framework before deciding whether to back the government.

Return of powersharing ‘up in the air’

Downing Street has indicated the vote on the Stormont brake will be read as indicative of parliament’s position on the wider deal.

Announcing the party’s intention ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Sir Jeffrey said: “Our party officers, the only decision-making mechanism in our party on these matters, met this morning and unanimously agreed that in the context of our ongoing concerns and the need to see further progress secured whilst continuing to seek clarification, change and re-working, that our Members of Parliament would vote against the draft statutory instrument on Wednesday.”

He said that his party will continue to work with the government “on all the outstanding issues”.

“It is our party view that there remain key areas of concern which require further clarification, re-working and change as well as seeing further legal text,” the DUP leader added.

A DUP source said that the return of the NI assembly remains “up in the air and depends on pace of government putting in arrangements unionists can support”.

They criticised the prime minister for “forcing a vote”, saying a better approach would have been to “recognise progress and keep working at it”.

Downing Street said its plan allows MPs “to have their say on what we believe to be the most significant elements of the framework”.

A spokesperson added: “This framework secures changes which many individuals and groups said weren’t possible. The Stormont brake is chief among them.

“With regard to EU regulation, these have been reduced right down to the very minimum level to ensure there is no border on the island of Ireland.

“I think that is the overriding priority of all parties in protecting and securing the Good Friday Agreement.”

UK

Rishi Sunak does not rule out July general election – but insists ‘there’ll be a clear choice’ when it comes

Published

9 hours ago

April 28, 2024

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Rishi Sunak does not rule out July general election - but insists 'there'll be a clear choice' when it comes

Rishi Sunak has failed to rule out holding a general election in July, as speculation remains rife over the timing of the national vote.

The prime minister has repeatedly said his “working assumption” is the election would take place in the second half of this year – with the law stating January 2025 is the latest he could call it.

But while many commentators have predicted an autumn vote, Sky News’ Trevor Phillips put to Mr Sunak that it could mean as early as July.

Analysis: Sunak needs to learn voters aren’t always governed by the logic of the computer

“Well, look, when it comes to a general election, I’ve been very clear about that multiple times,” the prime minister said.

“And again, I’m not going to say anything more than I’ve already said, I’ve been very clear about that.”

In his interview – which will air in full on Sunday at 8.30am – Trevor Phillips pushed Mr Sunak five times over whether he would rule out a July general election, but the Conservative leader refused to confirm or deny if it could take place then.

“You’re going to try and draw whatever conclusion you want from what I say,” he said. “I’m going to always try and say the same thing. You should just listen to what I said, [the] same thing I’ve said all year.

“But the point is… there’s a choice when it comes to the general election. And look, over the past week or so… the country can have a very clear sense of what that difference is going to look like.”

Outlining his recent commitments to overhauling the welfare system, cutting taxes and increasing defence spending, as well as finally getting his Rwanda bill through parliament in an effort to tackle small boat crossings, Mr Sunak said: “That is the substance of what this government is about and what it’s going to do in the future.

“And when the election comes, there’ll be a clear choice, because the Labour Party has tried to frustrate our Rwanda bill, because they don’t believe in stopping the boats, their economic plan will put people’s taxes up.

“They haven’t said that they will invest more in our defence and they certainly don’t agree with reforming our welfare system to support people into work.”

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Labour has said it wants to match the hike in defence spending when the financial circumstances allow, and has promised to scrap the Rwanda bill if it gets into power.

This week, its pre-election focus has been on railways, promising to renationalise train operators and “sweep away” the current “broken” model if the party wins the next election.

Watch Rishi Sunak’s full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips at 8.30am

UK

‘The only cure is a Labour government’: Tory MP and doctor Dan Poulter defects over NHS ‘chaos’

Published

9 hours ago

April 28, 2024

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'The only cure is a Labour government': Tory MP and doctor Dan Poulter defects over NHS 'chaos'

Conservative MP and former health minister Dan Poulter has defected to Labour in frustration at the worsening NHS crisis.

The MP for Suffolk Central and Ipswich North, with a majority of 23,391 at the last election, has indicated he is not planning to stand at the next general election.

The defection was revealed in an article on The Observer website, in which he said working as a mental health doctor in a busy hospital A&E over the past year had shown him how desperate the NHS situation had become.

“Working on the frontline of a health service under great strain left me at times, as an MP, struggling to look my NHS colleagues, my patients and my constituents in the eye,” he said.

He recalled seriously ill patients suffering long waits for treatment often hundreds of miles from their homes, adding that the “chaos of today’s fragmented patchwork of community addiction services” had put more pressure on already-stretched A&Es.

“The mental toll of a service stretched close to breaking point is not confined to patients and their families. It also weighs heavily on my NHS colleagues who are unable to deliver the right care in a system that simply no longer works for our patients.”

He said he had resigned from the Conservative Party to focus on his work as a doctor and to support Keir Starmer.

“I can well remember when I first qualified as a doctor and began working in the NHS in 2006. At the time, patient care had been radically improved and transformed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s Labour governments, following many years of Conservative neglect and under-investment.

“…I have come to the conclusion that, once again, the only cure is a Labour government.”

Dr Poulter criticised the Tories for “putting the politics of public sector pay ahead of ending strikes with healthcare workers”, adding: “Political ideology has been put before pragmatism and meeting the needs of patients, who are the real losers from the strikes”.

He also told The Observer the Conservatives had become “a nationalist party of the right” in the last eight years.

“It is not to say all [Tory] MPs are like that,” he said.

“There are good MPs, but it feels that the party is ever moving rightwards, ever presenting a more nationalist position.”

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer celebrated the defection on social media, tweeting: “It’s time to end the Conservative chaos, turn the page, and get Britain’s future back. I’m really pleased that Dan has decided to join us on this journey.”

Sky’s Jon Craig called the defection a “disastrous blow for the Conservatives and a massive propaganda coup for Labour”.

However, two councillors in Dr Poulter’s constituency seemed glad to see him go.

Councillor Samantha Murray said in a post on X that the local Conservative Party “have had to carry him for years”.

Councillor Ian Fisher posted: “Was campaigning this morning and he didn’t even have the decency to tell his hard-working activists in advance. A very self-centered man.”

Stop the boats? Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Tory party

Jon Craig

Chief political correspondent

@joncraig

Dr Poulter isn’t just any backbencher, which is what makes his defection to Labour all the more damaging for the prime minister and the Tory high command.

He’s an NHS doctor who’s worked in mental health services and was a junior health minister from 2012-15 when David Cameron was prime minister.

Alongside the formidable Mr Streeting, the dashing doctor will be a powerful advocate for Labour on the NHS.

Stop the boats? After the “honeytrap” MP scandal and the fiasco of the “bad people” MP, this calamitous defection from a high-profile and highly-respected MP, Mr Sunak needs to stop the rot in the Conservative Party.

A Conservative Party spokesperson responded to the resignation by saying the news would be “disappointing” for Dr Poulter’s constituents.

“Under the Conservatives we are raising NHS funding to a record £165bn a year, helping it recover from the effects of the pandemic and driving forward its first-ever long-term workforce plan so that we train the doctors and nurses we need for the future in our country.

“Thanks to our plan, we have already virtually eliminated the longest waits and overall waiting lists have fallen by 200,000 in the last five months – and we will go further to make sure everyone gets the world-class care they need.”

UK

Rishi Sunak says migrants going to Ireland shows Rwanda scheme is working as a deterrent

Published

9 hours ago

April 28, 2024

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Rishi Sunak says migrants going to Ireland shows Rwanda scheme is working as a deterrent

Migrants travelling to Ireland after arriving in the UK on small boats is a sign the Rwanda scheme is already working as a deterrent, Rishi Sunak has said.

Sky News’s Trevor Phillips asked the prime minister if migrants finding their way to Ireland was a sign the UK was “exporting the problem”.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheal Martin said on Friday the threat of being deported to Rwanda had caused an influx of migrants to cross the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic.

In his interview – which will air in full on Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips show tomorrow at 8.30am – Mr Sunak was asked about the comments, saying they illustrated “the deterrent is… already having an impact”.

“People are worried about coming here and that demonstrates exactly what I’m saying,” he said. “If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay there, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”

Downing Street on Friday rebuffed claims the Rwanda plan was already influencing movements into Ireland, saying it was too early to jump to conclusions on its impact.

Mr Sunak said the comments also illustrate “that illegal migration is a global challenge”.

“[That] is why you’re seeing multiple countries talk about doing third country partnerships, looking at novel ways to solve this problem, and I believe will follow where the UK has led,” he said.

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Mr Martin told The Daily Telegraph that the policy was already affecting Ireland, as people were “fearful” of staying in the UK.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister said: “Maybe that’s the impact it was designed to have.”

Mr Martin, who is also Ireland’s foreign minister, said asylum seekers were looking “to get sanctuary here and within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being deported to Rwanda”.

Danger for Sunak if new Act does not stop boats

Jon Craig

Chief political correspondent

@joncraig

On the Safety of Rwanda Bill, which finally became law this week after so-called “ping pong” between the Commons and the House of Lords, Mr Sunak said a deterrent was the only way to stop the boats.

“We did just have an important moment this week that in spite of all the opposition from the Labour Party we have passed the Rwanda bill through Parliament in the face of enormous opposition,” he told Sir Trevor.

“That’s important because the only way to fully solve this problem is to have a deterrent, so that if people come to a country illegally, they’re not able to stay, and we can return them.”

Refugee groups in Ireland admit that the threat of being deported to Rwanda is, as the Irish government claims, driving migrants across the border from Northern Ireland into the Republic.

Nick Henderson of the Irish Refugee Council told Sky News: “As long as there is a Rwanda policy and the Illegal Migration Act which states that somebody can’t lodge an application for asylum in the UK and have it considered if they enter in an irregular way, it’s going to have knock-on effects on Ireland, that’s plain to see.”

Now that the Rwanda legislation has finally become law, Tory MPs believe the PM can no longer blame his political opponents in parliament, in the Commons and the Lords, if it fails to stop the boats.

The danger for Mr Sunak, even his supporters concede, is that even if planes do take off for Rwanda this summer and some migrants head for Ireland, it may not stop the tide of more illegal migrants crossing the channel.

His comments came after Ireland’s justice minister told a committee of the Irish Parliament she estimates more than 80% of migrants in the Republic had crossed from Northern Ireland.

The UK’s prime minister told Trevor Phillips his focus “is on the United Kingdom and securing our border”.

The Safety of Rwanda Bill became an Act on Thursday, with Number 10 announcing the same day that the first deportation plane had been booked.

After a number of setbacks and delays, the bill passed in parliament earlier this week and then received royal assent, with Home Secretary James Cleverly hailing the approval as a “landmark moment in our plan to stop the boats”.

Anticipating the bill’s passage, the prime minister earlier this week promised the first flights would take off in 10 to 12 weeks – “come what may”.

Watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips at 8.30am