A bill to unilaterally amend the Northern Ireland Protocol will not violate international law, the Northern Ireland secretary said, but declined to say what legal advice had been sought or whether the position would be released. complete legal.
Brandon Lewis said the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, released Monday, is based on “protecting the integrity” of the Good Friday peace deal. He insisted that when people saw the legislation they would understand that it did not violate international law.
Labor, however, said the government “was setting a record for breaking the law”, while Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the plan went against the wishes of the people of Northern Ireland and would do “enormous and enormous damage” to his country. economy.
Lewis indicated that ministers would only publish a precise part of the council that establishes the legality of the bill. When asked if the full council would be published, he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge program on Sunday that the government “would outline our legal position.”
On three occasions, Lewis declined to say whether Sir James Eadie, the lead attorney whose role as first Treasury attorney is to provide independent legal advice to ministers, had been asked about the bill.
“I will not go into the internal councils of the government,” he said. Pressed on this, he added: “Government lawyers are very clear that we are working within the law. The Attorney General [Suella Braverman] tomorrow he will set out the government’s position on the matter. “
The bill will unilaterally overturn elements of the post-Brexit protocol with the EU in an attempt to facilitate trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, which Brussels has warned could lead to retaliation.
The hardline Eurosceptic right-wing Conservative party has put pressure on ministers to take tough action as MPs have met with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
Lewis argued that the bill was only intended to safeguard the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought peace to Northern Ireland: “What we are looking for is to address the issues we have seen with the protocol. It’s about how the protocol has been implemented, about the lack of flexibility that we’ve seen from the EU over the last year and a half. “
But Labor’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told Ridge’s program she was worried the plan would run counter to international law.
“We haven’t seen the legislation yet, but it looks like the government will be happy to violate international law,” he said. “This government seems to be developing a record of breaking the law, and it is not one that the Labor Party can support.
“It simply came to our notice then. We are deeply and passionately committed to it. “
McDonald’s told the same program that a “significant majority” of the Northern Ireland Assembly members elected in May supported the protocol and that it was clear that Westminster ministers intended to break the law.
“The protocol works,” he said. “The protocol is the mechanism that gives the north, in a unique way and free access to the European market. That is why we see in the north of Ireland, in contrast to Britain, with the exception of the City of London, the economy is strong.
“What the Conservative government is proposing to do in violation of international law is to do enormous and enormous damage to the northern economy, to the Irish economy.”