The Brexit deal is in jeopardy amid fears that Rishi Sunak will bow to EU demands

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The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Conservative Party members have warned Rishi Sunak not to “bow in” to the EU in negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Lord Dodds, the DUP leader in the House of Lords, told the Sunday Telegraph he feared the prime minister was “softening people” to get concessions that would leave protocol intact.

Last week, the UK and the EU hailed a breakthrough in negotiations by striking a small deal to give the EU access to British databases on trade flows of goods and animals from Britain to Northern Ireland.

On Monday, James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, and Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, will meet Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s chief negotiator, for further talks about the protocol, which introduced border checks on British goods to prevent a difficult Irish border. After Britain’s exit from the European Union.

However, the DUP said the two sides were still close enough to a deal for them to restore power-sharing, which has been suspended since the party withdrew from the Northern Ireland Executive in February 2022 in protest of the terms of the protocol.

“Soften people in order to cave in.”

Lord Dodds said: “A deal can only be reached in the coming weeks if the UK government takes full advantage, given the fact that there has been no change in the EU’s negotiating mandate and all the things the EU talks about involves taking a rough position out of action, not in reality.” renegotiate.

“If this is spoken of, it can only be on the grounds that our government is preparing the land, softening the people for the sake of the cave.”

He said the government had weakened confidence in the federal community by introducing legislation recently allowing it to build border control posts in Northern Irish ports – something ministers say is necessary whether or not a deal is reached with the EU.

“It is a flagrant attempt to implement already existing protocol,” said Lord Dodds. “It has done a lot of damage to the relations between trade unionists and the government.”

“Constitutionally, this is reprehensible.”

Meanwhile, cold water was poured on a speech by Sir Keir Starmer on Friday in which the Labor leader said a deal could be reached to “clear the majority of checks” on goods entering Northern Ireland.

Lord Dodds said this would not solve the fundamental problem of bringing Northern Ireland under the rules of the EU single market.

“Just reducing the number of checks does not solve the problem,” he said. “The problem we have in Northern Ireland is that we subject large swathes of our economy to the laws that were made in Brussels… It is constitutionally repugnant.”

In his speech, Sir Keir said he would give Mr Sunak Labor votes in parliament to push through on a deal, even in the face of opposition from Tory MPs from the European Research Group (ERG).

Lord Dodds said the prime minister should be “extremely careful” about Sir Keir’s “positioning”.

Despite ruling out Labor to join the single market, Lord Dodds warned that if the Conservative Party failed to resolve the current impasse, it would “leave the door open for a Labor government to come to say ‘well, the only way we can solve this problem is through accommodation'”. The whole of the United Kingdom is closer to the European Union.”

Trojan horse out of action

David Jones, vice-president of the ERG, also gave Sir Keir’s offer a short shrug.

He told The Telegraph: “I am sure the prime minister can see the Trojan horse when he presents himself. There is no way he would want to rely on Labor votes in order to pass legislation.”

Mr. Jones said the “tooted” changes to protocol weren’t enough for his group. “The ERG definitely wants to restore the UK’s constitutional integrity, which is not the case at the moment,” he said. He added that it would be a “futile exercise” if a deal was struck which failed to restore Northern Ireland’s institutions because it lacked unionist buy-in.

As the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement approaches in April, Lord Dodds said Mr Sunak and European leaders must decide: “Do we want the political process in Northern Ireland or do we want this protocol?”

“If they stick to protocol, there will be no restoration of institutions and thus Rishi Sunak will have to deal with the repercussions of that,” he said.

Certainly after 25 years he does not want to be the prime minister who comes down as the one who destroyed Belfast [Good Friday] Convention and Institutions in Northern Ireland? “

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