According to a recent news report, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has cautioned Rishi Sunak against attempting to coerce the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) into supporting his new Brexit proposal.
Rees-Mogg, a leading Brexit advocate, advised Sunak that he should have secured the DUP’s backing before finalising any deal with Brussels that aimed to amend the Northern Ireland Protocol.
In Rees-Mogg’s opinion, any arrangement would have to be “acceptable” to the unionist party. He further stated that the DUP’s perspective on any agreement would be “very influential” among the European Research Group of Tory Brexit-supporting MPs, as he appeared to sound a warning to No10.
During an interview with the BBC’s Westminster Hour program, Rees-Mogg cautioned Sunak that the DUP would not consent to a “fait accompli.”
He stated, “I am slightly concerned that we are in a situation we were in before where the Government says officially there is nothing being agreed, and we hear from journalists that they are being briefed that actually an agreement has been broadly come to, and I don’t think that is a brilliant way of getting the DUP on board.”
Rees-Mogg continued by suggesting that the proper approach would be to get the DUP’s backing before approaching Brussels, rather than attempting to coerce the party into accepting a deal.
He asserted that the DUP would not react well to any attempts to bully them into compliance.
Currently, Sunak is in the final stages of concluding a deal aimed at resolving post-Brexit border issues in Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, Brexiteers and the DUP have raised concerns that any changes will not be sufficient.
Originally, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak planned to unveil the proposals today and present them to the House of Commons tomorrow, but it is now believed that this timeline has been delayed.
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