Braverman says "weak" Prime Minster reneged on secret Protocol Bill deal as Wilson says DUP will be very wary of Sunak

The former Home Secretary has claimed a document agreed with Sunak to secure her support for his leadership included a promise to deliver the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in its then existing form and timetable.

The Prime Minister's press secretary rejected Braverman’s "characterisation" of a secret pact between the pair. However Downing Street did confirm the pair had discussed policy before the former home secretary was appointed to the role.

There has been a mixed reaction locally to the claims, with some in the DUP backing Braverman over the PM – and scorn over her actions from the SDLP and Alliance.

Sammy Wilson said it would make the DUP even more wary of Rishi Sunak in talks over the Windsor Framework – while Alliance’s Stephen Farry called Braverman’s resignation letter “bitter and twisted”.

The DUP MP told the News Letter that Braverman’s protocol claim means it is “even more likely that every word” of a deal between his party and the government will be scrutinised. “We will pursue a deal, but will be very very wary”.

He said that the prime minister was “not in touch with feelings in Northern Ireland - at least not on the unionist side. It’s difficult to make a deal with someone who makes promises and then flippantly doesn’t deliver”. Mr Wilson said that Mr Sunak has prioritised his relationship with the EU over relationships within the UK. Party colleague Lord Dodds posted on X, formerly twitter, saying that instead of delivering on the Protocol Bill the Prime Minister had “accepted an Irish Sea Border and wants unionists to do so also. No chance”.

However, the Alliance Party’s deputy leader said the Protocol Bill was never a serious option. Stephen Farry said: "Suella Braverman's resignation letter is bitter and twisted. It is farcical for her to place any stock in the NI Protocol Bill. It was a never a serious piece of legislation. It amounted to a breach of international law and solved nothing. If anything it delayed the agreement of the Windsor Framework. It was foolish for anyone else to put any stock in such a flawed approach and false assurances.”

The protocol bill was a potential UK response to the problems created by the NI Protocol on issues like customs, regulations and governance. It was never enacted as the government chose negotiations with the EU above unilateral action. Those talks resulted in the Windsor Framework, which maintained a trade border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland but eased some of the problems under the protocol.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said “Anyone surprised that a recently sacked Tory Minister is now trying to use the Northern Ireland Protocol to advance their own leadership ambitions really hasn’t been paying attention over the last seven years.

“Suella Braverman doesn’t care about this place. All she cares about is replacing Rishi Sunak. The best thing we can do is replace them both with a Labour administration."

Anti-protocol campaigner Jamie Bryson said: “Suella’s resignation letter makes clear that the Prime Minister had committed to securing the full passage of the NI Protocol Bill, which would have created the framework for restoring the Acts of Union and removing the Irish Sea border.

“Instead the Prime Minister, far from achieving the objectives of the Protocol Bill, in fact further embedded the Irish Sea border and subjugation of the Union via the Framework.”

Braverman lost her job on Monday after a series of controversies around her outspoken views. The most recent involved her commentary on the Met Police’s handling of pro-Gaza demonstrations and her comparison between those protests and parades in Northern Ireland. The sacking prompted a reshuffle in government and the shock return of former Prime Minister David Cameron to the cabinet as foreign secretary.

In her extraordinary letter to Rishi Sunak after her sacking, Braverman said his response to the pro-Palestine protests showed that he is "uncertain, weak, and lacking in the qualities of leadership that this country needs".

On her claim that he didn’t keep his word on their pact, she said: "Either your distinctive style of government means you are incapable of doing so. Or, as I must surely conclude now, you never had any intention of keeping your promises."