British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the conservative MPs to back his proposal to override part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. During a Zoom call with the lawmakers on Friday, he said that the party must not indulge in the miserable squabbling over Europe.
Meanwhile, the European Union has warned the UK government that it could face legal challenges by the end of this month if London does not ditch controversial elements in the Internal Market Bill. Moreover, a Tory MP has put forward an amendment bill that is likely to affect the trade between the northern island and the UK.
And if the bill becomes the UK law, the EU parliament has threatened to scupper any EU-UK trade deal. The two sides have very little time to agree on a deal before Boris’s October 15 deadline.
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On Monday, the informal talks are due to resume, and the nest official negotiations are expected to start in Brussels on September 28. On the same day, the Internal Market Bill was discussed for the first time in the House of Commons, and it addresses the Northern Ireland Protocol, part of the Brexit deal trying to prevent a hard border with Northern Ireland.
If the proposed bill becomes UK law, its ministers and officials will have the power to modify rules relating to the movement of trade goods between the northern island and the UK and will come to power in January next year, albeit the EU an Britain fail to reach an agreement.
Meanwhile, the EU officials have maintained that the proposed changes must be scrapped or jeopardize the UK-EU trade negotiations. However, Boris’s government has categorically rejected the demand, citing that it will protect the peace agreement with Northern Ireland and protect the UK’s integrity.
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, has acknowledged that the bill goes against the agreement between the UK and EU, and if it is implemented, it will break the international law.
On Friday, during the online meeting, the Prime Minister did not take the questions and complemented with a poor internet meant that the connections were also lost for a few minutes. He told the conservative MPs during the call that the bill was vital to protect the country and asked for the overwhelming support.
Boris also added that there are still chances that the two sides will agree on a deal by mid-October. He said it could be like the agreement between Canada and the EU, which got rid of almost many tariffs on goods.
In addition, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Minister, said that the government has the support of Tory MPs, as well as people in other parties, to pass the controversial bill. Sir Bob Neill, a conservative backbencher who chairs the Commons justice committee, stated that he was not satisfied by the Prime Minister’s Friday Zoom call.
Neill is also tabling an amendment to the proposed bill to force a separate parliamentary vote on any withdrawal agreement changes. Moreover, as Boris was speaking to the MPs, the EU announced that it would not ratify any deal between the two sides if the UK continued to threaten to breach the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
