[ad_1]
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the unilateral amendment to the divorce agreement with the EU that he sought against criticism. Parts of the legally binding agreement regarding Northern Ireland should be replaced by law because the EU could behave “in an extreme and unreasonable manner” with its former member Great Britain. “I have absolutely no desire to use these measures,” Johnson said Monday at the presentation of his British domestic market bill in the House of Commons. “You are an insurance policy.”
The Johnson administration has admitted that the changes to Northern Ireland’s rules would violate the legally binding provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. Four of Johnson’s predecessors, John Major, Tony Blair, David Cameron and Theresa May, have spoken out against this, and there is opposition even within his Conservative Party. Conservative deputy and senior attorney general as attorney general, Graham Cox, said the proposed changes would constitute an “unscrupulous” violation of international law.
Johnson’s special envoy for religious freedom resigned in protest
After May, Blair and Major, former Conservative Prime Minister Cameron, also raised concerns about Johnson’s actions on Monday. “Passing a law in parliament and then breaking an international treaty is the last thing you should consider,” said the initiator of the Brexit referendum. Johnson’s former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, said that, as a deputy, he would also not support Johnson’s bill. He simply could not support the “preventive breach” of the exit agreement. Conservative MP Rehman Chishti resigned as his special envoy for religious freedom in protest of Johnson’s plans. Respect for the rule of law and keeping promises are very important values for him, he explained.
The government defends the law, arguing that it will protect the UK’s domestic market because the EU has threatened to block deliveries from England, Scotland and Wales to Northern Ireland. Johnson’s single market law is expected to win the majority. In an initial vote, despite all the warnings, a clear majority in the British House of Commons voted in favor of Johnson’s proposal. The vote is a barometer of the state of mind: the debate on the bill will continue in the coming days and the decisive vote will not take place for another week. After that, the law still needs to pass in the House of Lords.
With the exit agreement negotiated by Johnson himself, Brexit was sealed on January 31 of last year. Johnson described this at the time as the fulfillment of his promise to complete the outing; in the general elections, he later won a large majority for his Conservative Party. There is still a transitional period until the end of this year, during which the previous agreements between the EU and Great Britain apply. They must be replaced by a trade agreement with which a “hard Brexit” must be avoided. Negotiations on this did not progress even before Johnson’s amendment.
