Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal clears Commons vote despite Tory revolt

The House of Commons voted 515-29 to back a key portion of the deal with the EU to rewrite the post-Brexit rules on Northern Ireland trade

Sunak faced a rebellion by 22 fellow Conservatives, including former PMs Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, who voted against the deal

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Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the House of Commons in London on Wednesday. Photo: UK Parliament / AFP

Published: 2:13am, 23 Mar 2023Updated: 8:45am, 23 Mar 2023

British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favour of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s deal with the European Union to rewrite the post-Brexit rules on Northern Ireland trade.

The House of Commons voted 515-29 to back a key portion of the agreement, which is designed to resolve a thorny trade dispute that vexed UK-EU relations and triggered a political crisis in Belfast.

But Sunak faced a rebellion by 22 fellow Conservatives, including his two immediate predecessors. Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss both voted against the deal.

Johnson, who led Britain out of the EU in 2020, said the deal was “not acceptable” because it kept some EU laws in operation in Northern Ireland, restricting the UK’s ability to diverge from the bloc’s rules and “take advantage of Brexit”.

A hard-Brexit group of Conservative Party lawmakers known as the European Research Group also said it opposed the deal.

The government easily won the vote with backing from the Labour Party and other opposition groups, along with most Conservative legislators.