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Lord Kane, the UK government’s law officer for Scotland, has offered to resign as prime minister.
BBC Scotland understands that it has been difficult for the Advocate General to compromise on plans to override the Brexit withdrawal agreement with the law.
Lord Kane’s resignation has not yet been accepted by Downing Street.
Glenn Campbell, the BBC’s chief political correspondent in Scotland, said there appeared to be an attempt to persuade a law enforcement official to remain in the post.
Sir Jonathan Jones, the government’s most senior lawyer and permanent secretary to the government’s legal department, has resigned over a law that passed the first parliamentary exam on Monday.
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The center of the line on the UK government’s internal markets bill, which Brandon Lewis, secretary of the Northern Ireland Secretariat, said MPs could “break international law” by overriding the withdrawal agreement signed with the EU.
Lord Kane then argued in the House of Lords that he was of the opinion that “this bill does not violate international law or the rule of law.”
He said Mr Lewis “necessarily answered the wrong question”.
But then Northern Ireland’s secretary doubled down, saying his statement was a “very direct response” that was “completely in line” with legal advice.
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The BBC’s political editor Laura Queensburgh said Lord Kane’s resignation had been rumored for several days, and finally happened “after he was opposed this morning by Brandon Lewis”.
Richard Keane was chairman of the Scottish Conservatives until he was appointed Advocate General in 2015 – when he was also made a life peer as Alina Baron Keane.
The QC has sued the UK government in a number of high-profile cases, including the length of Parliament in 2019 and the “Article 50” Brexit case in 2016-17.
As a UK government law officer, Lord Kane has been defending plans to give ministers the power to change the EU withdrawal agreement, in which case the two sides cannot agree to a trade deal.
He argues that this part of the UK’s internal market bill creates tensions with the UK’s international obligations, is unprecedented and local law prevails.
The trouble is, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has already said that overriding the Brexit divorce deal would violate international law “in a very specific and limited way” and he rejected Lord Kane’s suggestion that he had given the wrong answer.
This has made it increasingly difficult for Lord Kane to reconcile the government’s plans with the law, and he resigned in a letter to the Prime Minister on Wednesday morning.
He did not immediately accept it and the government appeared to be trying to persuade him to stop.
Lord Kane will be the first member of the government to abandon his approach to the issue, criticizing the former attorney general and five former prime ministers.
What are internal markets?
Following the end of the Brexit transition period in January, the bill sets out rules for trade between the UK’s internal markets – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It proposes:
- There are no new inspections on goods going from Northern Ireland to the rest of Great Britain
- Empowering UK ministers to amend or “disappear” rules relating to the movement of goods, effective January 1, if the UK and the EU are unable to reach an alternative agreement through a trade agreement
- Previously agreed responsibilities on state assistance – powers to rewrite on government support for businesses
The bill clearly states that these powers should be applied even if they are inconsistent with international law.
The ministers say legislation is needed to stop “harmful” tariffs on passengers traveling from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland if negotiations with the EU on a free trade agreement fail.
But some senior Conservatives, including former Prime Minister John Major, have warned that it could damage the UK’s reputation as a supporter of international law.
The law has also proved controversial with a distorted administration, worrying about how the UK’s “internal market” will function after Brexit and who will set the rules and standards.
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Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula van der Leyen has warned that the UK cannot unilaterally withdraw from the agreement.
He said on Wednesday that the agreement was the only way to guarantee the Northern Ireland peace process, and warned that its reshuffle would weaken confidence in the UK.
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Last week marked the start of the eighth round of post-Brexit trade deals between the UK and the EU.
Both sides are trying to secure the deal before the transition period expires on December 31, in which the UK will abide by the rules of the General World Trade Organization if no agreement is reached.
