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The Boris Johnson government has suffered a major defeat in the House of Lords over a bill that would allow ministers to violate international law by invalidating parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Peers backed by 395 to 169, a majority of 226, an amendment to the Internal Market Act that says it would “undermine the rule of law and damage the reputation of the UK.”
The bill passed all its stages in the House of Commons last month and its peers agreed to move to the committee stage where it is debated in detail and amendments can be proposed. The scale of the defeat, which followed passionate denunciations by leading figures on all sides, was a severe blow to the government.
Cabinet Office Minister Nicholas True urged his peers to put aside their misgivings about the treaty breach clauses of the bill to strengthen the government’s hand in negotiations with the European Union.
“The government has never sought and will never seek north-south barriers in Ireland; likewise, we cannot accept east-west barriers in our customs territory. The imperative here is balance. The prerequisite is the reason. In the difficult and very exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in, it is right that we take these precautionary measures now, ”he said.
But former Chief Justice Igor Judge, who introduced the successful amendment, said the debate had made him more, rather than less, uneasy about the bill. And he rejected Lord True’s argument that the government should be given additional powers in case it needs them in the future, saying it could go back to parliament to request them when it needs them.
“You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand the rule of law, and you certainly don’t have to be a lawyer to understand when you are giving up powers. That is what the bill will do. You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand damage to the UK’s reputation. That is what this situation will do. We cannot resist the fact that we are breaking the law if the bill passes, ”he said.
Business conversations
The government’s defeat came when negotiating heads David Frost and Michel Barnier spoke for the second day in a row about the future of negotiations toward a free trade agreement. Barnier said the door to the EU remains open, adding that “we should make the most of the little time left.”
Barnier on Monday agreed to one of Britain’s key demands by agreeing to step up talks on the basis of legal texts. But Downing Street said the EU must take a fundamentally different approach to the talks before they can resume after Johnson’s declaration last week that they were dead.
“The movement must come from the EU and UK side,” the prime minister’s official spokesman said, and Downing Street later said the situation had not changed.
The two sides have become closer on the main pending issues of fisheries and guarantees of a level playing field in the last two weeks and the expectation in both London and Brussels is that formal talks will resume in a few days.
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