Minister urges Tories to give Rishi Sunak 'time and space' to agree Brexit deal with EU
Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, yesterday fired a warning shot at Rishi Sunak as she praised a piece of Brexit legislation he may ditch as "one of the biggest tools" to end the Northern Irish impasse (you can read the full story here).
Maria Caulfied, a health minister, said this morning that the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is still going through Parliament as she urged Tory MPs to give the Prime Minister "time and space" to do a deal with Brussels.
She told Times Radio: "I think what Suella has actually said is she welcomes the Prime Minister’s negotiations on this both with the EU, with politicians in Northern Ireland, to try and get this resolved and absolutely, the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill was put in place as kind of a mechanism to fall back on and that is still going through parliament ayt the moment.
"But we have to give the Prime Minister time and space. We have to get this resolved because everyday that there isn’t a functioning government in Northern Ireland it is the people there that suffer."
Rishi Sunak targeting Brexit deal 'as quickly as possible'
Maria Caulfield, a health minister, said Rishi Sunak is trying to secure a deal to improve the Northern Ireland Protocol "as quickly as possible".
She told Times Radio: "The Northern Ireland Protocol does need sorting out for the people of Northern Ireland. There are disparities between GB and Northern Ireland and importantly that has resulted in the assembly there and the executive and the government in Northern OIreland not functioning and as a health minister, for example, in Northern Ireland health is a devolved matter and whether it is education or policing, decisions aren’t being made in Northern Ireland and a big factor in that is the unhappiness with the protocol.
"So the Prime Minister is absolutely right to try and get this sorted. He is at the negotiation stage, we know he has met with the DUP and they are happy with a number of elements but a deal has not been reached and I think we have to give the Prime Minister space because we have got get this right because ultimately we can all speculate about what’s in or isn’t in the deal but it is the people of Northern Ireland who are suffering at the moment without an assembly in place and I welcome that the Prime Minister is putting so much effort into trying to get this resolved as quickly as possible."
Minister attempts to pour cold water on claims of potential Government resignations over Brexit deal
A minister has attempted to pour cold water on numerous reports that some of her Government colleagues are prepared to resign over Rishi Sunak's Brexit deal if it is not up to scratch.
Maria Caulfield, a health minister, told Times Radio this morning: "I am not quite sure what people are resigning over because a deal hasn’t been done.
"Let’s wait and see what the final deal looks like. I was in Parliament yesterday, I was meeting with ministerial colleagues, it was not the first thing that we were talking about.
"And so I am not sure that the speculation actually matches the reality of what is happening in Parliament at the moment."