Steve Baker says Boris Johnson risks 'looking like a pound shop Nigel Farage'

Steve Baker has said Boris Johnson risks "looking like a pound shop Nigel Farage" over reports he will vote against Rishi Sunak's Brexit deal.

The former prime minister has confirmed he will vote against the Stormont Brake part of Rishi Sunak's Windsor Framework to settle Brexit in Northern Ireland.

He said: “The proposed arrangements would mean either that Northern Ireland remained captured by the EU legal order – and was increasingly divergent from the rest of the UK – or they would mean that the whole of the UK was unable properly to diverge and take advantage of Brexit.

“That is not acceptable. I will be voting against the proposed arrangements today.

“Instead, the best course of action is to proceed with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, and make sure that we take back control.”

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But Baker, a hardline Brexiteer said it was "important to serve the best interests of the people of Northern Ireland."

Boris Johnson's previous protocol deal would "wreck our relations with the European Union and damage our standing internationally," he said.

He said the Windsor Framework resolves those issues and

"He can be remembered for the great acts of statecraft that he achieved or he can risk looking like a pound shop Nigel Farage," he added.

It has also been reported Liz Truss will vote against the deal, as will the eight DUP MPs in parliament and the MPs that are in the European Research Group (ERG).

However, with Labour set to support it, it is expected it will pass through the commons comfortably.

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