Sunak’s deal fails to get the DUP’s support

There was bad news for Rishi Sunak this lunchtime as Sir Jeffrey Donaldson confirmed that he and the seven other DUP MPs will vote on Wednesday against the Windsor Framework. Few in government were expecting the party to vote for the deal but some harboured hopes that the party might abstain or register a more muted protest. In a statement, Donaldson said there had been ‘significant progress’ but that ‘there remain key areas of concern’.

Chief among them is Sunak’s much-vaunted ‘Stormont brake’ which would not apply to existing EU laws. The DUP Westminster leader said that ‘whilst representing real progress the “brake” does not deal with the fundamental issue which is the imposition of EU law by the Protocol.’ He says there needs to be ‘clarification, change and re-working’ of the Windsor Framework

Donaldson was seen in No. 10 as one of the more conciliatory, deal-minded figures within his party’s ranks, who kept his counsel in recent weeks while others like the more openly hostile Ian Paisley Jr toured the TV studios.