Sunak urged not to ‘railroad’ MPs into backing Windsor pact on Northern Ireland
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Rishi Sunak has been warned not to “railroad” MPs into accepting his new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland without giving them “meaningful input”.
The Commons European Scrutiny Committee urged the Prime Minister not to set any “unnecessary deadlines” for the Windsor pact to be put into action to allow scrutiny.
In the cross-party group’s report published on Tuesday, they said failure to do this before the plans are implemented could be “construed as giving rise to a fait accompli”.
Mr Sunak has promised MPs a vote on his new arrangements agreed with the EU but has not set a date as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) study the plans.
Parliament should not be railroaded into a deal that it has not had sufficient time to come to an educated choice over whether to proceed or renegotiate
The Commons committee urged Mr Sunak to avoid “artificial” deadlines by rejecting holding a meeting of the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee (WACJ) between London and Brussels that would approve the agreement this month.
“The House should have the opportunity for meaningful input into the shape of the deal, well in advance of sign off by the WAJC and without the threat of artificial Government or EU deadlines,” the report read.
The committee also expressed “disappointment” over Mr Sunak’s decision not to appear before the committee, citing “heavy diary commitments”.
Sir William Cash, the veteran Conservative who chairs the committee, added: “Parliament should not be railroaded into a deal that it has not had sufficient time to come to an educated choice over whether to proceed or renegotiate, which will be unlikely to happen if the Government were to rush ahead particularly if the EU wishes to do so.
“MPs in the House must have a meaningful chance at input before this happens.”
No 10 was unable to say when MPs will be given a vote on the agreement Mr Sunak approved with the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen on February 27.
“Parliament will have its say and we’ve confirmed there will be a vote on this,” a spokesman said.
