Senior Tories, including former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, are set to vote against the Stormont “brake” on Wednesday.
MPs are set to vote on a statutory instrument relating to the one key provision of the Windsor Framework, allowing for 30 MLAs to stop new EU legislation being introduced, at least temporarily.
The DUP has said its members will vote against while its leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was due to address the European Research Group of hard right Conservatives this morning.
Members of the group were expected to vote against the statutory instrument but they have now been joined by party Johnson, likely Truss along with former Home Secretary Priti Patel and one time Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Mr Johnson confirmed on Wednesday morning he will not be backing the passage of the brake.
Exclusive: The former PM said that the proposals were 'not acceptable' and backed proceeding with the NI Protocol Bill
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 22, 2023
Read the full story here ⤵️
In a statement, Mr Johnson said: "The proposed arrangements would mean either that Northern Ireland remained captured by the EU legal order - and was increasingly divergent from the rest of the UK - or they would mean that the whole of the UK was unable properly to diverge and take advantage of Brexit.
"That is not acceptable. I will be voting against the proposed arrangements today.
"Instead, the best course of action is to proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, and make sure that we take back control."
Senior Tories, including former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, are set to vote against the Stormont “brake” on Wednesday.
A source close to Ms Truss told PA said that she plans to vote against it too.
Ms Truss is understood to believe the Prime Minister's Windsor pact does not "satisfactorily resolve the issues thrown up by" the Northern Ireland Protocol and "almost fatally impinges" on the UK's ability to diverge from EU rules.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is still expected to win the vote comfortably with Labour su[pport.
The DUP has already said its eight MPs will vote against the regulation to implement the Stormont brake as it continues to seek changes to the overall framework.
