Badenoch under fire from Brexiteers for waving through pet passports for Northern Ireland

Conservative leader faces criticism after Tory MPs told to abstain on vote, as Eurosceptics claim move hardens border

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Kemi Badenoch is facing criticism for ordering Tory MPs to wave through a scheme that will mean Britons with dogs have to show pet passports when travelling into Northern Ireland.
Conservative MPs were told by party whips to abstain on a vote on Wednesday setting up the Northern Ireland pet travel scheme, part of the latest post-Brexit deal with the EU.
Under the current rules, pet owners travelling from Great Britain into Northern Ireland have to secure a costly certificate to show their animal does not carry diseases. Under the new rules, voted through by the House of Commons, a pet passport will need to be presented by owners. 
Supporters of the change – negotiated in the Windsor Framework last year by Rishi Sunak during his time as prime minister – have argued that it will make it easier for Britons travelling with pets.
However, Eurosceptics fear that the change further hardens the border between two parts of the UK – Great Britain and Northern Ireland – in a way that undermines the Union.
It has also prompted questions for Mrs Badenoch, the new Conservative leader, given that it means one of her first whipping decisions has been not to oppose the scheme.
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader who voted against the changes, told The Telegraph: “Secretly the Tories are ashamed of the Windsor Framework.
“They know it was a dreadful deal. They know Rishi pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes and effectively Northern Ireland is cut off from the UK. Abstaining is a way to say: ‘I’d rather not talk about it.’”
Sir Roger Gale, one of three Conservative MPs who voted against the measure, raised concerns about the new pet passport scheme and its effect on the UK.
Sir Roger told The Telegraph: “I voted against it because we can’t have a border down the Irish Sea. Why should we have pet passports to take Fido from Liverpool to Belfast?”
It is understood that the new Tory leadership decided to allow its MPs not to turn up for the vote in part because the measure was going to pass anyway, given Labour’s vast Commons majority.
It is the latest twist in the long debate about how to protect Northern Ireland’s position in the UK while limiting disruption from the country’s departure from the EU, voted for in the 2016 referendum. 
Successive EU and UK leaders have agreed with the need to keep Northern Ireland’s land border open with the Republic of Ireland, which remains in the EU, in part owing to historic tensions.
But that has meant a series of checks being mandated on goods passing from the mainland UK into Northern Ireland, as, in theory, they could then easily be moved into the EU via the Republic of Ireland.
The new row is over what should happen if a Briton living on the UK mainland travels with a dog or cat into Northern Ireland.
Those rules were renegotiated by Mr Sunak in his Windsor Framework deal, unveiled in February 2023.
The old rules, put in place by Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, meant pet owners had to get an animal health certificate from their vet for each visit. Each certificate cost an average of £230.
Under the new scheme, owners of pets that are microchipped simply need to show the animal’s life-long “pet travel document” when entering.
But there was some Brexiteer support for the move. Steve Baker, the former Tory MP who led the European Research Group, backed the changes. He was involved in their development as Mr Sunak’s Northern Ireland minister.
Mr Baker told The Telegraph: “I am painfully aware that the Windsor Framework is a hard compromise for Unionists and Eurosceptics.
“But unfortunately it was the best the prime minister of the day could do to move the relationship forward. It would now be irresponsible to vote against the pet passport measure.”
A Conservative Party source said: “The most important moment in Parliament yesterday was not a deferred division on a statutory instrument that Labour had already secured, but Kemi Badenoch forcing Keir Starmer to admit at Prime Minister’s Questions that he had no answer as to how local councils will fill the £2.4 billion black hole in their finances.
“Kemi is leading the charge against Labour’s unravelling budget, showing how local councils, care homes, GPs and charities are telling the government that the National Insurance hike is threatening their livelihoods.”
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