Commons leader says any deal on Northern Ireland Protocol must meet DUP standards

She told Sky News: “Unless this deal is satisfactory to all communities in Northern Ireland, it won’t be possible, it’s not going to work.

“The DUP’s tests that they have referred to are not a random wishlist, they are promises that we have made to the people of Northern Ireland. That is the bar that this deal has to get over and and I know that the Prime Minister is completely focused on that.”

It was put to her that the DUP’s seven tests include no role for the ECJ.

She replied: “The Prime Minister is focused on removing those practical difficulties, but he has also been talking about the democratic deficit. He’s been talking about ensuring that the people of Northern Ireland through their representatives are able to have a say on any future regulation that they might be subject to.”

Asked whether she was happy to potentially get a Northern Ireland Protocol deal through the Commons on the back of Labour’s support, she told Sky News: “Well look, this is a hypothetical situation about having a vote.

“We don’t know what a deal is going to look like and whether we will need to do that or not.

“I would hope if we arrive at a good deal that everyone would be supporting it, but I come back to the point (that) it doesn’t really matter what any of us in the House of Commons think about this.

“The deal has to satisfy the people of Northern Ireland.”

Boris Johnson had said that it would be a “great mistake” for Mr Sunak to drop the Northern Ireland Bill.

Ms Mordaunt told Sky News: “Well, Boris is being Boris.

“But I wouldn’t say this is a completely unhelpful intervention. And I think as I say, the Prime Minister, I think, will acknowledge that having the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill there, having the work that the former prime minister did has helped us get where we are.

“But it’s always been our preference to try and have a negotiated settlement and and that is what everyone is working to.

“The intervention by a source close to the previous prime minister is helpful to remind the EU of that Bill, and what this deal actually has to deliver.”

She also expressed hope that an agreement with the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol will lead to devolved government being restored in Stormont.

Asked whether the Government is ready to resume direct rule if the DUP does not accept a deal, Ms Mordaunt said: “We want government to be to be re-established in Northern Ireland.

“There is obviously an element of local politics in all of this, but fundamentally, the deal that the Prime Minister is trying to negotiate at the moment is going to be a key part of getting the Assembly stood up again.

“That is why it is absolutely critical that all parties have confidence in the process and have confidence with what is arrived at.

“We don’t know whether we’re going to be able to secure a deal or not. But if we do, and it’s a good one, then that will play a big part in getting the Assembly re-established.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the role of the ECJ has become a “symbolic” issue for certain quarters of the Tory party.

The frontbencher said Labour were more focused on prioritising a deal that “just simplifies the process” for trade and advocating a “common sense” approach to the issue.

Asked about her view on how likely the EU would be to accept an agreement that does not involve the ECJ, Ms Cooper told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “We don’t know what the discussions are that are taking place at the moment.

“There is also an element already in terms of the role that the ECJ plays and I think that seems to have become a sort of big symbolic issue now for elements of the Conservative Party.

“The most important thing really is to have a practical programme that works – of course, there have to be dispute resolution mechanisms as a part of that, but it’s to have something work that just simplifies the process for trade.

“And we believe that there are ways that could do that… we’ve put forward proposals around a veterinary agreement that would simplify many of the checks that are in place…

"For a long, long time, the way the Conservatives have handled this is not to talk to anybody, just to get into standoffs, just to get into rhetoric, rather than to actually be really practical and have a common sense approach to that.”