Boris Johnson ‘could make first comments on Brexit deal TODAY’

Boris Johnson could make his first comments on Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal today – amid the DUP’s infighting over whether or not to support it.

The former prime minister will later give a speech in Westminster where he will address the new settlement in Northern Ireland.

There are claims that Mr Johnson will be critical of some elements, although he will probably wait to state whether Mr Sunak will get his support in the expected votes this month.

The intervention comes as tensions rise in the DUP after leader Jeffrey Donaldson said he would take time to consider the details of the package – possibly even after local elections in May.

Ex-leader Peter Robinson said rejecting the deal would put the DUP into ‘dangerous territory’, although he suggested that ‘a better deal could be achieved in the future’.

However, DUP chief Sammy Wilson said it was ‘not much’, arguing that the new ‘Stormont Brake’ may never be used to block the introduction of future EU laws in the province.

Former deputy leader Lord Dodds said the pact keeps the border along the Irish Sea and does not guarantee free trade with mainland Britain.

Boris Jonhons (right) later gives a speech in Westminster where he will address the new settlement in Northern Ireland hit by Rishi Sunak (left)

The government hopes the new arrangements can help restore the balance of power in Stormont

A report to be published today by a group backed by DUP MP Ian Paisley is also expected to say the deal fails the DUP’s seven tests.

Mr Johnson has been “studying and considering the government’s proposals” since the deal was published on Monday.

Downing Street said the two men had had a “good chat” when the Prime Minister briefed Mr Johnson on the outline of the deal over the weekend.

Tory MPs have overwhelmingly supported Mr Sunak’s plan, with a number of prominent Eurosceptics, including David Davis, Liam Fox and Andrea Leadsom hailing it as a diplomatic coup. It claims to remove any trace of a border in the Irish Sea, bring the county back under UK tax rules and give Stormont the power to block new EU rules.

But the European Research Group of Tory MPs has said its “star chamber” of lawyers needs two weeks to sift through the fine print.

And Unionist sources have suggested it could be months before the DUP makes a ruling. It stopped sharing power last year in protest at the impact of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Ministers want to go ahead with the implementation of the deal, which has “real world benefits” for Northern Ireland, and have scheduled a possible vote the week after the budget, which takes place on March 15.

Lord Dodds’ comments on the Windsor Framework are likely to raise concerns in Downing Street, who hoped the deal would restore power-sharing in Stormont.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said he will take time to consider the details of the package

There was also criticism from Baroness Hoey, a Northern Ireland Brexit supporter and former Labor MP, who claimed that Sunak was ‘overdoing’ the deal and treating people as if they were ‘stupid’.

Speaking to Parliament, Lord Dodds said: ‘The construction of these border checkpoints at each of our ports in Northern Ireland is taking place because the controls do not only cover goods moving from Britain through the Republic of Ireland to the EU, as a part of the would recommend.

“They are being built because companies wanting to trade with Northern Ireland from Britain still have to meet European requirements, including a level of control.

“Britain will continue to be treated as a third country as far as Northern Ireland is concerned under the new arrangement.”