Sir Bill Cash’s warning to Sunak over Northern Ireland deal

Boris Johnson criticises Sunak’s new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland

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Senior Brexiteer Sir Bill Cash MP has revealed the Prime Minister is repeatedly refusing to appear before his Commons committee to face scrutiny over his new Northern Ireland deal with the EU. Sources from the European Research Group of Brexiteer MPs now warn the PM that his refusal to answer questions may impact their assessment of the new Windsor Framework.

A new report by Sir Bill Cash’s European Scrutiny Committee has warned the government not to prevent Parliament from having “meaningful input” into the new agreement before it is finalised between the UK and EU.

They warn such a move could risk being seen as a “fait accompli”.

Sir Bill argues, “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.”

The new report continues: “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.”

The committee reveals it wrote to Rishi Sunak on March 2, inviting him to appear before them to give evidence on his landmark Windsor Framework, however on March 10 he declined the invitation.

The committee subsequently offered him alternative dates to appear of either Thursday, March 16 or Friday, March 17 however he continues to turn down the invitations.

Responding to the report, an ERG source questioned why Mr Sunak might be trying to avoid scrutiny over the deal.

“If No. 10 is determined to finalise the deal and force MPs to vote on it before they have had a chance to ask reasonable questions as to how it will work in practice, then we make our own conclusions as to why they want to avoid scrutiny and that will inform our view of the deal.”

“Rather than attempt to bounce MPs onto an artificial timetable it would be best if he does what he promised to do and comes to Parliament to answer MPs concerns in detail.”

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The Prime Minister’s letter of March 10 turning down the initial invitation has been published by the committee, revealing he instead offered them the opportunity to cross-examine the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris.

He wrote, “I regret that heavy diary commitments mean that I am unable to accept your invitation. Nonetheless the Government welcomes Parliamentary interest in the Windsor Framework.”

Mr Sunak added that his office is currently in discussions with the House of Commons Liaison Committee – the top committee of MPs made up of the chairmen of all other committees – to organise a date for his next appearance.

He told Sir Bill he would be “happy to answer questions about the Framework then should the Committee decide it should be one of the issues for discussion”.

The Prime Minister of the day generally appears before the Liaison Committee twice a year, and is considered one of the most testing methods of scrutinising a sitting Prime Minister as they must demonstrate they are on top of all aspects of their brief.

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