Rishi Sunak’s government emphatically won a parliamentary vote on a key part of its new post-Brexit deal with the European Union, avoiding a significant backbench rebellion over trade with Northern Ireland but failing to resolve a long-running dispute over power-sharing in the region.
(Bloomberg) — Rishi Sunak’s government emphatically won a parliamentary vote on a key part of its new post-Brexit deal with the European Union, avoiding a significant backbench rebellion over trade with Northern Ireland but failing to resolve a long-running dispute over power-sharing in the region.
MPs voted by 515 to 29 to back the so-called Stormont Brake, a new mechanism that allows the UK to stop changes to EU laws automatically applying in Northern Ireland.
Sunak’s administration had said the vote would also be Parliament’s chance to express its overall view on the Windsor Framework, the new settlement with the EU unveiled last month.
The margin of victory and the lack of any major dissent from his own side will be a relief for Sunak. Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss earlier said they would oppose the measure, raising the prospect of Sunak relying on opposition votes and suffering a symbolic blow to his authority.
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As it was, the rebellion was muted, with 22 Conservative-aligned MPs voting against the government, alongside Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party.
However, Northern Ireland will continue to pose a political problem. During debate ahead of the vote, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said Sunak’s deal still doesn’t address their fundamental concerns.
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Donaldson said the DUP will continue to refuse to return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland, which they left more than a year ago in protest at issues caused by the post-Brexit settlement. Restoring that devolved government was a key objective behind the new deal with the EU.
“We have not yet fully addressed this problem which is the continued application of EU law for the manufacturing of all goods in Northern Ireland,” Donaldson said in the House of Commons. “We need to continue engaging with the government to get this right.”
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