London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Sunak’s Brexit deal under pressure after opposition from Boris Johnson and DUP

Sunak’s Brexit deal under pressure after opposition from Boris Johnson and DUP

Negative comments by former PM and senior unionists suggest revised Northern Ireland protocol has not won over key figures
Rishi Sunak’s hopes of ending years of Brexit infighting with a revised deal for Northern Ireland have suffered a double blow as Boris Johnson came out against the plan while pressure mounted within the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) to reject it.

In his first public comments since the Windsor framework was unveiled on Monday, Johnson used a speech to a conference in London to say he would find it “very difficult” to back the plan, arguing it would stifle the UK economically.

While Johnson’s opposition was expected, and the former prime minister did not explicitly say he would vote against the new protocol when it reaches the Commons, his careful unpicking of a policy he said would yoke the UK to European-style economic orthodoxy will strike a chord with fellow Tory Brexiters.

“We must be clear about what is really going on here. This is not about the UK taking back control,” he said of Sunak’s plan. “This is the EU graciously unbending to allow us to do what we want in our own country, not by our laws, but by theirs.”

This would, Johnson argued, “act as a drag anchor on divergence – and there’s no point in Brexit unless you do things differently”.

He also called on Sunak not to drop a bill, currently going through parliament, that would allow the UK to unilaterally change elements of the Northern Ireland protocol, arguing this was the best way to win concessions from the EU.

On the Windsor plan, Johnson said: “I’m going to find it very difficult to vote for something like this myself because I believed that we should have done something different, no matter how much plaster came off the ceiling in Brussels.

“I hope that it will work. And I also hope that if it doesn’t work, we will have the guts to deploy that bill again. Because I’ve no doubt at all, that that was what brought the EU to negotiate seriously.

Sunak’s proposal, which still includes some EU oversight of trade in the UK but seeks to placate unionists with the “Stormont brake”, which allows Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly to block new EU regulations in some circumstances, has been generally well received by Tory MPs, including many Brexiters.

However, the European Research Group, which represents the most diehard Brexit opinion, has yet to give a formal view while it fully studies the legal text of the deal. The same is true of the DUP, which has set out seven tests the plan must comply with.

The DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, has said the decision on whether to support it will be “collective”, with most expecting him to take two weeks to consider independent legal opinion.

But some observers worry that the vacuum left during the wait for an opinion from Donaldson is allowing opponents of the deal within the party to build up momentum, notably Sammy Wilson, its Westminster chief whip, and senior MP Ian Paisley.

“I don’t believe it meets our tests. And there’s probably six or seven reasons why – for example, EU law will continue to apply in Northern Ireland,” Paisley told BBC One Northern Ireland’s Nolan Live programme.

One issue was that the Stormont brake “only applies to future law, not to existing EU law”, Paisley said, adding: “This is not, of course, a legal agreement. This is a political statement.”

Sunak was spending Thursday at the same hotel in Windsor where he finalised his new Brexit plan with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, for a long-planned awayday with Conservative MPs, one intended to push key messages and build unity.

The impact of Johnson’s thumbs down remains to be seen, but in an uncharacteristically reflective section of his speech he appeared to accept that his arguments over embracing divergence from EU economic orthodoxies seemed unlikely to happen.

“People wanted change in their lives. They wanted to see things done differently,” he said.

“I’ve got to put my hands up for this as much as anybody. We haven’t done enough yet to convince them that it can deliver the change they want to see.

“What I wish we had done is put a big ‘Invest here’ sign over Britain as soon as we were out of Covid.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×