Latest updates: Pro-Brexit MP criticises PM’s handling of negotiations and says ‘it’s important to get support before finalising details’
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary and a former chair of the European Research Group, which represents hardline pro-Brexit Tory MPs, has used his “Moggcast” podcast to criticise Rishi Sunak’s handline of the Northern Ireland protocol negotiations.
Rees-Mogg accused Sunak of being like Theresa May (not a compliment in Tory Brexit circles). Referring to the way No 10 has handled the talks with the EU on rewriting the protocol, with Tory MPs being kept in the dark, he said:
It’s quite surprising, because this is very similar to what happened with Theresa May.
So a story would appear in The Times and Downing Street would say ‘no, this isn’t quite right, it isn’t at all right’.
He said there would be no point having a deal that was unacceptable to the DUP – implying that No 10 was at fault for not accepting this. He said:
There seems to me to be no point in agreeing a deal that does not restore power-sharing.
That must be the objective. If it doesn’t achieve that objective, I don’t understand why the government is spending political capital on something that won’t ultimately succeed.
Rees-Mogg defended the Northern Ireland protocol bill, which No 10 seems happy to shelve, saying it has the support of “the person who had a mandate from the British voters” – ie, Boris Johnson. The bill would allow the UK government to unilaterally abandon parts of the current protocol (even though some lawyers say this would be against international law).
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