Liz Truss dubbed ‘Brexit Queen’ after Cabinet clash over Northern Ireland

Liz Truss and Suella Braverman have been accused of trying to flutter their “leadership feathers” by attempting to toughen-up plans to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Ms Truss, the Foreign Secretary, and Ms Braverman, the Attorney General, clashed with rivals Michael Gove and Rishi Sunak in tense talks about new legislation to replace the Protocol.

The meeting eventually agreed that businesses in Northern Ireland will be subject to “dual regulation” – regulation by both UK and EU rules – when the Bill is unveiled early next week.

An automatic “sunset clause” demanded by the Brexiteers, which would mean that the EU jurisdiction fell away after a few years, was also dropped.

Mr Sunak won a concession on whether the Treasury could alter VAT in the Province, rather than make it UK-wide.

“He wants the power to be able to do it if he wants to,” a source said.

Ms Truss and Ms Braverman – dubbed the “Brexit Queens” – were backed by other Cabinet ministers Kwasi Kwarteng, Dominic Raab and Brandon Lewis against Mr Gove, the Levelling Up secretary, Mr Sunak, the Chancellor, and Anne Marie Trevelyan, the International Trade secretary.

Sources said there was some surprise when Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, who is said to have used colourful language during the meeting, initially sided with Mr Gove and Mr Sunak.

Tensions were raised when the Prime Minister told the meeting “very clearly that our objective is not to be sovereignty purists but to find solutions that work in practice”.

One Brexiteer Cabinet source claimed Mr Gove has “been fighting hard on the Protocol bill to keep the EU aligned”. A second source said it was “still a good Bill ... but not 100 per cent, which is unnecessary and a shame”.

However one source close to Mr Sunak and Mr Gove said that the meeting was characterised by “a lot of this feather fluttering from leadership wannabes” keen to impress the Tory party’s Eurosceptic base.

A Downing St source defended the new legislation, insisting that the result had to be balanced to protect north-south as well as east-west trade.

Ministers are desperately hoping that the new Bill will be enough to persuade the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) – which has been kept informed throughout by figures in the Northern Ireland Office – to allow the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

‘Naked anti-Brexit move’

Separately, Eurosceptic Tory MPs threatened to vote down the measures if they are too weak to appease DUP anger over the Irish Sea border.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, a veteran Brexiteer, warned: “If the Government does not bring forward a bill which holds out the serious prospect of the restoration of power-sharing in Northern Ireland, and the restoration of the Good Friday agreement, I will vote against it.”

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, added: “The Good Friday Agreement is also itself an international agreement and it is an absolute priority that the Good Friday Agreement should function as a priority above all else.”

The DUP’s Jim Shannon said the Government had to “hold to their word” to remove Protocol barriers to trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. He accused the Government of asking Northern Ireland to “watch their businesses crumble” just to “pacify Remainers in this chamber who will not accept democracy and are prepared to sacrifice peace in Northern Ireland”.

The threat of rebellion came as government sources denied outright reports that the Government did not ask Sir James Eadie, the First Treasury Counsel, for a legal opinion on whether the bill would break international law, as would be normal practice. One Cabinet source said the claim was “a naked anti-Brexit move”.