Ministers fired warning shots at Tory hardliners on Brexit on Wednesday telling them to “operate in the real world” and stop tearing their party “to shreds”.
Veterans Affairs minister Johnny Mercer backed Rishi Sunak’s push for a deal to end the impasse over Northern Ireland trading arrangements, insisting he wasn’t about to “sell anyone out”.
He added on Times Radio: “We’ve got to operate in the real world. Rishi Sunak campaigned, voted for and is very committed to Brexit.
“It feels like we’re stuck in a time warp doesn’t it because we’re talking about same things we’ve been talking about for five years. Let’s give the Prime Minister a chance to come out with something? He’s attacking this. He is doing everything he can.”
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey also urged Conservative MPs to give the prime minister space to finish negotiations with Brussels.
He told LBC on Tuesday evening: “Let’s just give the PM the space to finish the negotiation, announce what he’s got and then we can all dissect it.
“But just doing the whole sort of default, tearing ourselves to shreds before anything’s even happened, I think the public have been bored out of their minds with us doing that.”
Mr Sunak is trying to clinch a deal with Brussels to reform the Northern Ireland protocol, part of the 2019 Brexit deal which avoided the need for a ‘hard’ land border in Ireland by introducing trade checks on some goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
With the outline of a deal to relax many of those checks thought to be in place an announcement could be made on Thursday, No10 sources have indicated. But the timing of any deal could slip, with both sides anxious to avoid any clash with Friday’s first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is opposed to the protocol, said that while progress has been made in recent days “there is still some way to go”. He added: “There are still some very key issues that need to be resolved”.
He was speaking after a meeting of the eurosceptic European Research Group of Conservative MPs on Tuesday night. Some ERG members have warned against any deal which doesn’t have the support of the DUP.
Mark Francois, chairman of the ERG, added: “Any MP worth their salt if they are asked to vote on a deal wants to be able to read it first. That’s not unreasonable. That ultimately means a legal text.”
The DUP is refusing to return to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont, which has been paralysed for months, until the protocol is reformed, arguing it drives a wedge between the Great Britain and Northern Ireland and damages business in the region.
Sir Jeffrey said a deal that would allow a return of power-sharing in Northern Ireland is still possible in the coming days but that it will require further concessions from Brussels.
The future role of the European Court of Justice to resolve trade disputes in Northern Ireland remains a major sticking point.
Mr Mercer took aim at the DUP for not taking their place in the Assembly and also said that he was not concerned about the role of the ECJ in Northern Ireland.
“I think people in politics have got to remember what they’re there for,” he said. “We’re here to serve. No one party has a monopoly on what’s right for Northern Ireland. I think everybody needs to do their best and conduct themselves in good faith. And I hope and expect the DUP are doing that as everybody else is.
“I think if you take a wage as a politician you should probably turn up to work like everyone else in the country.”
