Last night’s vote on the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill didn’t turn into an open revolt from Tory MPs – but that’s not to say that there isn’t big trouble for the legislation. A chunk of Conservatives abstained, some of them having made very clear in the debate on the second reading of this legislation that they could not support it. Theresa May, Julian Smith, Simon Hoare and Bob Neill all raised serious concerns in their speeches and did not vote. Other Conservatives who did support the legislation still said they were uncomfortable with certain aspects of it. Robin Millar, who voted in favour, nonetheless told MPs that ‘I have concerns about the sweeping powers within it given to ministers’ and said he hoped changes might be made as the legislation moved through parliament. David Simmonds similarly said that he felt it was best to ‘give the government the benefit of the doubt and to create a space for a negotiation that, as we have heard, is happening in good faith’.
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