[ad_1]
Downing Street faces a clash with conservative rebels, as criticism over its plans to violate international law with a controversial new bill that could overturn parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement grew louder on Sunday.
Opposition between the party is understood to be growing, and dozens of Conservative MPs are expected to support a key amendment to the internal market bill that would give parliament a crucial veto of any changes to the deal.
MPs will have the opportunity to voice their opposition during a second reading and debate of the bill on Monday, when it will also be put to a vote before moving on to committee stage. Several Conservative MPs intend to abstain in Monday’s vote, with as many as 30 expected to back the amendment tabled by Sir Bob Neill, chairman of the Justice Select Committee, next week.
On Sunday, Cabinet Office shadow minister Rachel Reeves confirmed that the Labor Party would also vote against the bill in its current form.
Neill, who will abstain on Monday, told The Guardian: “I have had very positive support from my fellow Conservative MPs, significantly both from the people who supported Brexit and the rest. I’m sure the support is growing. “
His comments come as Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said he would resign if the law was “violated in a way that I find unacceptable,” but stressed that “we are not at that stage.” He told BBC One’s Andrew Marr on Sunday that the legislation was “to break the glass on the emergency provision if we need it.”
Lord Thomas, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2013 to 2017, said that he did not accept Buckland’s argument and in fact asked him to consider his position. Referring to the resignation of Jonathan Jones, the head of the government’s legal department, he told BBC Radio on Sunday: “Obviously Sir Jonathan felt that the situation was such that he felt he could not continue. I don’t see the chancellor [Buckland] be in a different position. “
Former Prime Ministers Sir John Major and Tony Blair also criticized the threat to violate international law over the weekend. In a joint article written for the Sunday Times, the couple urged MPs to reject the legislation, saying it jeopardizes the Irish peace process, trade negotiations and the integrity of the UK.
Meanwhile, a new war of words broke out on Twitter between Downing Street chief negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier on the Northern Ireland protocol, under which he would continue to enforce EU customs and follow product rules to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland.
Frost said the EU had made it clear that there is no guarantee that it will add Britain to its list of third countries approved for food imports. But Barnier said he needed details from the UK on its future health standards for food, plant and animal products for export, known as sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
Neill said his amendment will not reach parliament until the second week of debates, but that “it will allow time for momentum to build up,” adding: “Ministers will be under pressure to explain their opposition to a parliamentary blockade. The amendment does not actually remove these clauses from the bill. Some people will say, ‘You should go further and eliminate them completely.’ But this is done in a spirit of compromise if the government really needs to use them in an emergency.
“What you can do is have the provision in the bill, but you wouldn’t actually activate it until the House of Commons, on motion of a minister, specifically authorizes those clauses to go into effect by voting in favor.”
In an extraordinary scene in the Commons last week, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis admitted that the bill “violates international law in a very specific and limited way.” The bill, which would give ministers powers to “disapprove” of part of the agreement signed by Boris Johnson last year, has angered Brussels.
Writing for the Telegraph on Saturday, Johnson said he had been anxious in recent weeks because negotiators believed there was a “serious misunderstanding” about the terms of the withdrawal agreement. He wrote: “We are now hearing that unless we accept the EU’s terms, the EU will use an extreme interpretation of the Northern Ireland protocol to impose a large-scale trade border in the Irish Sea.” Johnson described the domestic market bill as a “legal safety net”, to “protect the free flow of goods and services between NI and the rest of the UK.”
After its passage scheduled for second reading on Monday, the bill will go before committee stage on Tuesday and Wednesday but, due to scheduling, Neill’s amendment is unlikely to be voted on in parliament until the week. next, when there will be another two days of debate.
The opposition is unlikely to exceed the 80-seat majority in government, but it represents another headache for Downing Street amid growing discontent among Conservative MPs following a series of high-profile course reversals this year over the political decisions of Covid-19. Former conservative leaders Theresa May and Sir Michael Howard have spoken out against the new bill.
Neill said he hoped other parties would also support his amendment. Reeves said the Labor Party “would have to see the details” of Neill’s amendment before deciding to endorse it, and that it would table its own amendments.
Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defense select committee and one of the conservatives who supported Neill’s amendment and abstained in Monday’s vote, said: “This is not a rebellion, this is about advancing strategies to ensuring that we do not lose sight of who we are and what we stand for and that is absolutely critical in these dangerous and changing times.
“Britain is one of the founding fathers of modern democracy and international law, and at a time when the rule-based order is eroding, we should defend it rather than undermine it.”
Longtime Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale said he would vote against the domestic market bill and support Neill’s amendment. “As for me, there is an international agreement that we signed freely and voluntarily and that we must now respect. End of story, ”he said.
Meanwhile, there were fresh calls from Brussels and the EU capitals on Sunday for the internal market law to be withdrawn. After a phone call with Ireland’s taoiseach Micheál Martin, European council president Charles Michel tweeted: “The withdrawal agreement will be fully implemented, guaranteeing peace and stability in Ireland and preserving the integrity of the single market. It is time for the UK government to shoulder its responsibilities. The international credibility of the UK firm is at stake. “
France’s EU Affairs Minister Clément Beaune said it would be inconceivable for London to adopt a bill that would partly contradict the agreement ratifying its divorce from the EU.
[ad_2]
