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Britain breaks law with Brexit bill
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Britain plunged Brexit trade talks into crisis yesterday by publishing a bill that explicitly acknowledges the government could break international law by ignoring some parts of the divorce treaty it signed with the European Union.
Brushing aside warnings from Brussels that breaching the treaty would prevent any trade deal being struck, London said in the proposed legislation that it would ignore parts of the Withdrawal Agreement, which was only signed in January.
The Internal Market Bill says that certain provisions are 鈥渢o have effect notwithstanding inconsistency or incompatibility with international or other domestic law.鈥
The government has said international law would be broken 鈥渋n a very specific and limited way.鈥
After its exit from EU, Britain will follow World Trade Organization rules on subsidies, business minister Alok Sharma said yesterday, promising not to adopt a 鈥減icking winners鈥 approach.
鈥淲hile our guiding philosophy remains that we do not want a return to the 1970s approach of picking winners and bailing out unsustainable companies with taxpayers鈥 money, the UK must have flexibility as an independent, sovereign nation to intervene to protect jobs and to support new and emerging industries,鈥 Sharma said in a statement.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, promptly tweeted that she was 鈥渧ery concerned about announcements from the British government on its intentions to breach the Withdrawal Agreement.鈥
鈥淭his would break international law and undermines trust. Pacta sunt servanda 鈥 the foundation of prosperous future relations,鈥 she said. The Latin phrase, meaning 鈥渁greements must be kept,鈥 is a basic principle of international law.
The publication of the bill, on the day the EU鈥檚 chief negotiator arrived in London for a fresh round of trade talks, suggested to some that Prime Minister Boris Johnson might be trying to goad the bloc into storming out of those negotiations.
But EU sources said they would not seek a suspension.
Johnson told parliament the bill was 鈥渁 legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations鈥 of the Northern Ireland protocol of the Withdrawal Agreement that could threaten peace there.
The bill, if approved, would give ministers the power to ignore parts of the protocol by modifying the form of export declarations and other exit procedures.
It will debated in both chambers of parliament and require their approval before becoming law.
Britain quit the EU in January but has remained part of its single market, largely free of trade barriers, under a status-quo agreement that expires in December.
It has been negotiating a trade deal to take effect from January 1, but says it is willing to walk away if it cannot agree favorable terms.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said he would speak to Johnson to express 鈥渧ery strong concerns.鈥
Asked how he could expect Britons to obey the law if his government was willing to undermine it, Johnson said: 鈥淲e expect everybody in this country to obey the law.鈥
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