DUP MP: No-one has compromised Government's Brexit position more than itself

Sammy Wilson argued MPs "should know the full implications" of any decision they were asked to take in a vote on Brexit.

READ: Cabinet to consider Brexit deal in special meeting on Wednesday Speaking in the Commons, the MP for East Antrim said: "Indeed I think there's a bit of an irony that no-one has compromised the Government's position more than the Government itself in these negotiations. They willingly accepted the EU agenda and timetable and sequencing for the negotiations.

"They uncritically accepted this nonsense of a backstop for Northern Ireland, a problem which doesn't exist and which can be dealt with by the existing trade facilitation measures which are in place."

He added: "Let's be careful about making the suggestion that somehow or other what is being requested today is going to undermine the Government's position in negotiations.

"What it is going to do is to inform this House and inform the people who are going to be affected by the outcome of these negotiations as to exactly how they will be affected."

Mr Wilson said if the Government had decided it would make legal information available, that was a "step in the right direction".

He said: "If we're going to make a decision on this, it's a most important decision, then we should know the full implications.

"It should be spelt out to the public, the people of Northern Ireland and the people of the UK should know, is the Government binding you to an arrangement which will be impossible to get out of collectively or just for the people of Northern Ireland?

"What will the scope of that be? And what are the lawyers saying about that?"

Mr Wilson said his party would be supporting the motion if it goes to a vote on Tuesday night, adding: "If the Government has decided that it will make that legal information available then I think that that's a step in the right direction and I suspect that on this particular issue it will expose, what we're hearing from Europe at present, the shape of the agreement that's going to be, it will expose just how damaging that agreement is going to be to the UK."