DUP’s Sammy Wilson says Brexit vote should be delayed

The DUP MP also called on the government to delay tonight’s meaningful vote to allow “full scrutiny” of the latest agreement between the UK and EU.

Speaking to radio station LBC regarding the so-called “legally binding changes” to the withdrawal agreement, Mr Wilson said: “I have got to say if you look at what the prime minister has said so far it seems to fall short of what she herself had promised. She is simply saying it reduces the chances of us being kept in the backstop.”

However, he said he wanted to give “due diligence” to what changes had been made.

In a later interview with BBC’s Good Morning Ulster, the DUP’s Brexit spokesperson said his party would not be coming to any conclusion over the latest agreement until it had listened to the legal advice from Attorney General Geoffrey Cox.

He added: “By the PM’s own admission all she has said is that she has reduced the likelihood of the backstop having to be applied, which is not the task she set out to achieve.

“However we will give a fair hearing to what she has proposed.”

When asked if tonight’s meaningful vote in the Commons should be pushed back, Mr Wilson replied: “If the government wants to have full scrutiny of this agreement and not give the impression they are trying to railroad it through because it is afraid of scrutiny, then one of the options it has is to put the vote off today. We wouldn’t be averse to that.”

He added that there appeared to be “fair support” among MPs, even some Remainers, for the vote to be delayed.