On Friday, the UK and EU will formally agree on a post-Brexit deal to overhaul Northern Irish trade rules after lawmakers from both parties approved it despite a rebellion within Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party. UK foreign minister James Cleverly and EU Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic will sign off the “Windsor Framework” at a joint committee meeting in London. The framework’s “Stormont brake” won the backing of 515 MPs, with 29 opposed. The brake hands Northern Irish lawmakers an effective veto over new European Union rules being implemented in the UK province. Once formally agreed, the UK government said it will then begin the process of implementing the framework. However, the new deal has reopened old divisions within Sunak’s party. Twenty-two Tory MPs — including former leader Boris Johnson and fellow former leader Liz Truss — opposed the brake in Wednesday’s vote, while another 48 declined to vote. MPs from Northern Ireland’s largest pro-UK party, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), also voted against, suggesting that Sunak will struggle to get the party to resume power-sharing in Belfast.
