Jenrick: future Tory government must be able to rip up Northern Ireland agreement
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Robert Jenrick has said a future Tory government must be ready to rip up the Northern Ireland deal with the EU to take full advantage of Brexit.
The former immigration minister, who has been tipped as a future leadership contender, said “no self-respecting country” could stick with the agreement in its current form.
Writing in The Telegraph alongside Lord Frost, the former Brexit negotiator, he said the UK can only prosper from leaving the EU “as one country”.
His remarks will be seen as a direct challenge to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who sees the Windsor Framework deal as one of his main achievements in office.
The agreement, struck last February, eased many burdensome border checks on goods travelling between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
But it ultimately left Northern Ireland within the EU’s single market – as it has been since Brexit – meaning it still has to follow the bloc’s laws.
In their piece Mr Jenrick and Lord Frost said the next Tory government must be prepared to rip up the deal even if it means angering Brussels.
“It isn’t good enough that Northern Ireland is in limbo, deprived of many of our new freedoms, or that British governments cannot make reforms without widening the gap between us,” they wrote.
“No self-respecting country would tolerate this indefinitely. So the Windsor Framework cannot last.
“The next majority Conservative government must, either by negotiation or via new domestic legislation, take back full control.”
Public criticism
It is the first time that Mr Jenrick, who was a minister at the time the Windsor Framework was signed, has publicly criticised the deal.
His remarks will fuel speculation that he is positioning himself for a tilt at the Tory leadership should the party lose the next general election.
The Northern Ireland deal is deeply unpopular amongst Eurosceptic MPs who rebelled against it when it was voted through the Commons.
Boris Johnson drew up legislation to unilaterally rip up the pact when he was prime minister, but the law was later shelved by Mr Sunak.
Mr Jenrick has already courted the right of the party by resigning over No 10’s approach to the Rwanda deal which he said did not go far enough.
In their article he and Lord Frost said the Government’s approach to Brexit was not “good enough” and ministers were treating it as an “embarrassing secret”.
They warned that if Downing Street did not do more to “defend” leaving the EU then Labour would take the opportunity to “undo it” once in power.
“Labour’s EU policy is a fantasy,” they wrote. “We both believe that the Conservative Party can and should do much better.”
