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Four former prime ministers have publicly spoken out against the law planned by Boris Johnson, which will retrospectively modify the exit treaty with the EU. With Theresa May, John Major, Tony Blair and David Cameron, prominent politicians gave a boost to the resistance in parliament that is resisting the prime minister’s plan.
Johnson’s predecessor, Cameron, voiced “serious concerns” about the prime minister’s plans earlier in the week. Earlier, former Prime Ministers Major and Blair had asked lower house deputies to vote against Johnson’s law on Monday in a joint guest article in the “Sunday Times.” This would seriously damage the integrity of Great Britain and jeopardize the peace process in Ireland, they said. And even Johnson’s former attorney general, Goeffrey Cox, described his approach as “unscrupulous” and “unheard of.”
The planned law, the “Internal Market Act”, aims to allow Britain to unilaterally review the Brexit treaty that has been in force since February, which would violate international law. The main focus is on trade in Northern Ireland.
Party colleague plans a complicated change
Since Johnson’s Conservatives have a majority of 80 deputies in the House of Commons, the prime minister can easily pass laws. In fact, because there is considerable resistance against the planned internal market law, even in their own ranks. Many Conservatives have announced that they will at least abstain from voting on Monday.
At least 30 Conservatives also want to support an amendment that does not hamper the envisaged law, but would change it in such a way that MPs would have a veto on possible changes to the EU treaty. Johnson’s colleague, Conservative MP and former Secretary of State Bob Neil, introduced this amendment.
Neil told The Guardian that he had received “very positive comments from colleagues in the Conservative party,” both from supporters and opponents of Brexit.
The majority of the opposition spoke out against the law, but due to the situation of the majority, it cannot prevent it on its own. Neil said he looked forward to your support for his change. Labor MPs are studying “details” on this.
Memories of the Conservative Rebels
The uproar in Johnson’s own camp brings back memories of the conservative rebels, who rejected Johnson’s loyalty exactly one year ago and thus helped avoid the no-deal for the time being. That’s when Johnson drove 21 of the faction’s insurgents, and unequivocally put everyone else on their course.
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood is one of those Conservatives who announced that he would not vote for the Prime Minister’s Act and would instead support the amendment, despite another possibly brutal reaction from the Prime Minister. “This is not about rebellion,” the Guardian quotes Ellwood, “but about not forgetting what we stand for.” Britain is “one of the founding fathers of modern democracy and international law” and should “defend it rather than undermine it”.
Stress with the Lords
Even if the House of Commons agreed on Monday, Johnson’s law would not have passed; In addition to further reading at the committee level, the Lords of the House of Lords have yet to discuss it. Although they cannot stop a law, they can stop it multiple times with their veto.
And in the House of Lords there is resistance too: even before the Tories in the House of Commons opposed the plans, the greats among the Lords were loud. In an earlier debate on the legislative proposal, none of the representatives defended the prime minister’s plan.
“How can we accuse Russia, China or Iran that their behavior does not meet internationally accepted standards when we ourselves pay so little attention to our contractual obligations?” Warned Michael Howard, Johnson’s predecessor as leader of the Conservative party.
The reason Johnson’s proposed law would only bring about “very specific and limited” changes to the current treaty would be used as an excuse “by dictators around the world,” Lord Charles Falconer’s colleague railed.
Even if the prime minister succeeded in passing his law, which was to be expected: if the amendment also passes, MPs could use their veto to thwart his plan to bypass the EU. Johnson would then have to do a lot to persuade or, like a year ago, resort to brutal methods.
