Brexit: Boris Johnson stills needs DUP, party claims, after he suffers crushing defeat

DUP MPs voted with Labour and other opposition parties on Wednesday night to block the government’s timetable to pass key Brexit legislation.

The government won a vote on its Brexit bill, but a second vote on a plan to implement the law was lost by 14 votes.

DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said The Prime Minister still needs his party’s support.

“I think he realises now that without the DUP on board getting his bill and agreement throught the House of Commons is going to be hugely challenging for him,” he told the BBC.

“So I think the sensible thing is for the government to sit down with us and see if we can work this out.”

Number 10 hoped MPs would allow the bill to pass through Parliament in only three days.

But Mr Johnson said he will now “pause” the legislation and speak to EU leaders about a delay to the Brexit deadline.

However, unless the EU grants one, the UK is due to leave the EU with no deal on 31 October.

European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted on Tuesday night that he would recommend the EU accept the UK’s request for an extension.

Mr Donaldson, said MPs needed “much more time” to scrutinise the bill, which the government wanted to push through Parliament in the course of this week.

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said MPs had made a “very wise” decision to vote down the timetable, also known as a programme motion.

He said the vote would allow “further time for detailed examination of some of the most important legislation that we will ever have to consider, particularly given the impact on Northern Ireland”.

Mr Dodds then addressed the PM directly and asked him to sit down with the DUP to discuss the detail in the Brexit bill.

“Talk to us again about what can be done at this late stage to ensure we join in this great quest together to get Brexit done, but as one United Kingdom,” he said.

Boris Johnson nodded when Nigel Dodds asked him for a sit-down meeting over Brexit

Independent Unionist Lady Hermon, MP for North Down, also voted against the timetable motion.

It means that all Northern Ireland MPs who take their seats in the chamber voted to oppose the government on two fronts on Tuesday night.

Sinn Féin has seven MPs but they abstain from taking their seats in the House of Commons.

Lady Hermon had asked the government to reassure unionists about the contents of the bill

Reacting to the results, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar tweeted: “It’s welcome that the House of Commons voted by a clear majority in favour of legislation needed to enact Withdrawal Agreement.

“We will now await further developments from London and Brussels about next steps including timetable for the legislation and the need for an extension.”

The European Commission’s chief spokeswoman said her organisation takes note” of the results of the Westminster vote and “expects the UK government to inform us about the next step”.

She added that the President of the European Council Donald Tusk “is consulting leaders on the UK’s request for an extension until 31 January 2020”.

During the debate on the bill, North Down Independent MP Lady Sylvia Hermon said: “I say very clearly to the Prime Minister, do not take the people of Northern Ireland for fools - we are not fools. The Prime Minister needs to explain in detail how his new consent process operates.”

Mr Johnson said the process is detailed in the unilateral declaration made between the UK and Ireland, Press Association reported.

He added there are a “small minority of economic arrangements” in Northern Ireland which remain in alignment with the EU for four years unless and until a majority vote of the Stormont Assembly elects to remain in alignment.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said: “It is quite clear that whatever you say about Northern Ireland being in the UK customs union, de facto the European Union customs code applies in Northern Ireland if the protocol comes into place which requires exit declarations from Northern Ireland.”

Mr Johnson replied: “There are no checks GB/NI. There will be some light-touch measures to ensure there is no illegal trade. Illegal trade in endangered animal species and banned firearms, which I think you would agree was sensible.”

He added: “Even these measures evaporate and are terminated automatically, they automatically dissolve, unless a majority of the Northern Irish Assembly in Stormont votes to keep them.”

DUP MP Sammy Wilson also said: “The simple plank, Prime Minister, for the mechanisms ensuring both communities are protected in the Belfast Agreement is, and I state from the agreement itself, ‘to ensure that all sections of the community can participate and work together, and that all sections are protected, arrangements to ensure key decisions are taken on a cross-community basis’.”

He questioned how this complies with the terms of the Prime Minister’s agreement and his earlier comments that decisions are made “on a majority basis”.

Mr Johnson replied: “It is the salient feature of these arrangements, that they evaporate, they disintegrate, they vanish, unless a majority of the Northern Ireland Assembly elects to keep them.”

Simon Hoare, Conservative chairman of the Northern Ireland select committee, said no border communities in Northern Ireland are “fearful of a resurrection of violence and bloodshed and hatred” thanks to the Prime Minister’s deal.

He added: “Trying to square the difficult circle of delivering Brexit, under the umbrella of the Good Friday Agreement and maintaining peace on the island of Ireland was always going to be a big ask.

“Not everybody will be happy with what the Prime Minister is bringing forward, but all communities should be happy that nobody is talking about ‘a coach and horses being driven through the Good Friday Agreement’.

“And there are no communities, particularly at the border, who are now fearful of a resurrection of violence and bloodshed and hatred.

“The Prime Minister is to be congratulated.”

But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “This Bill confirms Northern Ireland is really in the customs union of the EU and goods will be subjected to tariffs.”

Former Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson said he would back the Bill if he received reassurances about the region.

He added: “My feeling is that there has to be, and I hope that the Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor when he comes to reply can give us some reassurance, that when we conclude a free trade agreement with the European Union, all these current arrangements in the protocol will be dissolved and this sovereign UK Parliament and Government will pass a law that Northern Ireland moves into the free trade agreement on a level of absolute level pegging with the rest of the United Kingdom.

“That might alleviate some of the concerns in Northern Ireland.”