Ministers should reject withdrawal deal, say critics of PM May's Brexit plans

Opponents of Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plans called on her cabinet ministers on Tuesday to vote down an agreement on Britain's withdrawal terms if it bore any resemblance to reports of the deal they had seen.

At an impromptu news conference in parliament, eurosceptic Conservative lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said his group of pro-Brexit politicians in parliament believed that the so-called backstop arrangement to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland would make Britain a "slave" state.

Nigel Dodds, deputy leader of the small Northern Irish party which props up May's government, said he needed to see the terms of what officials have called an agreement on the technical terms of the withdrawal deal to decide whether to pull the party's support, but that he had his concerns.
"MAY'S BREXIT AGREEMENT IS UTTERLY UNACCEPTABLE"
Britain's Boris Johnson said the Brexit withdrawal agreement with Brussels was "vassal state stuff" that would not protect Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, and said he would vote against it when it comes before parliament.

Earlier on Tuesday Prime Minister Theresa May's government said it had agreed a draft text of the Brexit withdrawal agreement with Brussels, which May will present to her senior ministers on Wednesday.

Johnson, who quit as foreign secretary over May's handling of Brexit, said he had not seen the full details but it had been widely trailed. "It is vassal state stuff," he said.

"It is utterly unacceptable to anyone who believes in democracy.

"For the first time since partition Dublin under these proposals will have more say in some aspects of the government of Northern Ireland than London. I don't see how you can support it."