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Downing Street has warned the House of Lords not to try to block the UK’s Internal Market Act, which would violate international law by giving British ministers the power to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
The bill passed its first stage in the House of Commons on Monday night, and the government hopes MPs will pass it in its next stage next week before sending it to the House of Lords, where the ruling Conservatives will not. they have a majority.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman said Tuesday that the bill was covered by the Salisbury Convention, which protects bills that deliver on the manifesto promises from being blocked in the Lords.
“We would expect the Lords to respect the Salisbury Convention. Ensuring the full economic benefit of leaving the EU to all parts of the UK and ensuring that Northern Ireland companies and producers enjoy unlimited access to the rest of the UK were clear commitments in the Conservative manifesto that this legislation complies with, ”he said. the spokesperson.
Critics of the bill claim it contradicts the Conservative manifesto by undermining the Brexit deal that all party candidates promised to support and which the prime minister described as “ready for the oven.”
Former Northern Ireland secretaries Julian Smith and Karen Bradley were among the Conservative MPs who abstained in Monday night’s vote on the bill, joining leading advocates, including the two most former attorneys general. Recent Geoffrey Cox and Jeremy Wright, and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid then.
The Hague intervention
Former Conservative leader and foreign secretary William Hague on Tuesday added his voice to criticism of the legislation.
“In case of no agreement [on a future relationship] Coming to the EU, the UK will have a particular need to abide by global standards. If some EU members make our exports difficult, we will certainly turn to the World Trade Organization rules for our help. And if fishing boats from other countries intrude into our waters, we will rely on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. All of this is international law and setting the precedent to break it is a very bad idea, “he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
“Whenever I spoke as Secretary of Foreign Relations about compliance with laws and treaties, before the UN or any roving state, I did so with the absolute confidence that my country stood firm. We undermine that ground at our own risk. ”
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who told the House of Commons last week that the bill would violate international law “in a very specific and limited way”, will appear before the Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs. on Wednesday. Richard Keen, Scotland’s attorney general, told the House of Lords on Tuesday that Lewis had “answered the wrong question” when he made the comments last week and that the bill was legal.
“The internal market bill is framed within the limits of international law, within the limits of our contractual obligations and within the limits of the rule of law,” he said.
“In my opinion, this bill does not in itself constitute a violation of international law or the rule of law.”
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