Sunak avoids large Tory rebellion on Brexit deal

Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework has won support in the House of Commons at 515 ayes to 29 noes. As expected, DUP MPs voted against the deal – after the group’s leader Jeffrey Donaldson announced early this week that the party would oppose it. As for the Conservative party, there were 22 Tory rebels, including three former Tory leaders in Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Iain Duncan Smith. Other rebel MPs include Jacob Rees Mogg, Priti Patel, Jake Berry, Jonathan Gullis, Christopher Chope and William Cash.

The number of abstentions looks to be sizeable – in the region of 48 Tory MPs. However, it’s likely that several of those – such as cabinet minister Grant Shapps – have been agreed with the whips. This vote was held on the Stormont brake aspect of the protocol (which gives Northern Ireland the power to object to new EU laws) but the result is being taken by the government as approval of the whole Brexit deal, especially given No.