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Boris Johnson has said that the UK should reserve the right to override the Brexit deal to protect the country’s “economic and political integrity”.
The prime minister said legislation is needed to resolve “tensions” in the deal agreed with the EU and to ensure that the UK cannot be “divided” by a foreign power.
He suggested that the EU was no longer negotiating in “good faith” by threatening to block food exports.
Critics of the Internal Markets Law say it could flout international law.
The bill is expected to pass its first parliamentary test later, when MPs vote on it in second reading at 22:00 BST.
However, several Conservative MPs have said they will not support the bill as it stands and some may express their concerns by abstaining.
The UK left the EU on January 31, having negotiated and signed the withdrawal agreement with the bloc.
A key part of the withdrawal agreement, which is now an international treaty, was the Northern Ireland Protocol, designed to prevent a firm border from returning to the island of Ireland.
The government’s proposed internal market bill would override that part of that agreement for goods and allow the UK to modify or reinterpret the “state aid” rules on business subsidies in Northern Ireland, in the case of the two parties not agreeing to a future trade agreement.
‘Protective powers’
Speaking at the beginning of the five-hour debate, the prime minister said the bill should be welcomed by all who care about the “sovereignty and integrity of the UK”.
He said the UK had joined the withdrawal agreement, including the Northern Ireland Protocol, in “good faith” in the belief that it would lead to “light” regulations on intra-UK trade.
But he suggested that the EU had acted “extreme and unreasonable” in recent months, claiming that it had threatened not to allow the UK to export animal products and “had not taken that revolver off the table.”
He said the bill gave the UK “protective powers” against the EU’s “proven willingness” to interpret aspects of the withdrawal agreement in “absurd” ways that were never intended.
“What we cannot tolerate now is a situation where our EU counterparts seriously believe they have the power to divide our country,” he told MPs.
“We cannot have a situation in which the very limits of our country can be dictated by a foreign power or international organization.”
‘Insurance policy’
Johnson said the UK will work with the EU to resolve differences as “swiftly and amicably” as possible and admitted that Parliament would be given a vote before standby powers are invoked.
“I have no desire whatsoever to use these powers. They are an insurance policy.”
But former attorney general Jeremy Wright said that what the government was proposing ran the risk of violating international law and questioned whether it left ministers at risk of violating the ministerial code.
Before the debate, former Foreign Minister Sajid Javid said he did not see why it was necessary to “pre-emptively renege” on the Withdrawal Agreement signed with the EU earlier this year while talks on a trade agreement continued.
“Breaking international law is never a step to be taken lightly”, he tweeted.
The legislation, which sets out how trade between different UK nations will operate after the UK leaves the single market on January 1, is likely to face further difficulties in its later stages, especially in the House of Lords.
A senior government source told the BBC that “all options are on the table” in terms of possible action against Conservative MPs who do not support the bill.
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Five former prime ministers have raised concerns about the bill, including Boris Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May, who will be absent from Monday’s debate while visiting South Korea.
Speaking earlier Monday, David Cameron said “passing an act of Parliament and then breaking an international treaty obligation … should be the absolute last resort.”
Labor has said they will oppose the bill unless major changes are made.
Miliband will replace Sir Keir Starmer later at the opposition desk after the Labor leader was forced to isolate himself at home when a member of his family developed possible symptoms of coronavirus.
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