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The British House of Lords has once again given a clear rejection of the controversial Single Market Law, with which the Government wants to undo the current Brexit agreement. The House of Lords voted Monday night in London with an overwhelming majority against the decisive clauses – in the first ballot with 433 to 165 votes. Prime Minister Boris Johnson must now decide whether or not to accept the Lords’ vote.
With the law, the government subsequently wants to unilaterally change the already valid agreement between London and Brussels on Britain’s exit from the EU and cancel parts of it. That could destroy the special rules for Northern Ireland, which should avoid a hard border with the EU state, Ireland, and further hostilities there.
A first vote on the law in October was equally clear. Several MPs argued that the bill would jeopardize peace in Northern Ireland and damage Britain’s international standing in the world. However, the lower house deputies had voted in favor of the law with a clear majority. Now there is a kind of political ping-pong game between the upper and lower houses. The latter can propose changes or postpone a law temporarily, but not definitively prevent it. The government said Monday that it will adhere to the Single Market Act despite resistance from the Lords.
The European Union strongly condemned the government’s move in September and continues to oppose it. The Europeans accuse Johnson of violating international law and initiating proceedings.
Johnson speaks of a necessary step in order to put national legislation above EU legislation. Among other things, it is about how much the British government can subsidize companies in Northern Ireland without this being a disadvantage for European competitors.
Trade agreement with the US
Opposition leader Keir Starmer urged Johnson to disable the law after US Democrat Joe Biden won the election. “We will soon have a president in the Oval Office who is a passionate supporter of the Good Friday Agreement,” the Labor Party leader wrote in an invited post for The Guardian. In 1998, the Good Friday Agreement ended the bloody and protracted conflict in Northern Ireland. “Like governments around the world, he will disapprove that our prime minister continues to undermine this deal.”
The designated president of the United States, Biden, has Irish roots: his great-great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland to the United States. Biden said that a future trade deal between the United States and the United Kingdom would depend on the United Kingdom complying with the agreement with the EU and avoiding a new hard border between the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
At the end of the year the transitional phase of Brexit ends, during which Great Britain still benefits from the EU internal market. London and Brussels are still struggling with a trade pact from 2021. Without a contract, tariffs and other trade barriers will take effect by the end of the year, damaging the economies of both sides.
