The Tories MPs have already prepared for the legislation, which is due to be published on Monday, in violation of international law, despite protests by cabinet ministers that it would be legal. Last week, Sir Jonathan Jones, the former top government lawyer, said the legal advice process was like a “stitch” and “like a lawyer’s shopping”. Now Labor, the Liberal Democrats and the Alliance of Northern Ireland Party are urging ministers to put aside their usual practice and reveal who they consulted. Northern Ireland Shadow Minister Peter Kyle said the government should release the legal advice it received with “transparency about their origin”. Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael, who served as cabinet minister in the coalition government, said the process of gaining independent legal advice “should not be contaminated by politics”. “It seems to me that they have come out looking for a political crisis,” he added. “The rule of non-disclosure of legal advice depends on the good faith of the government and getting the best independent advice. “It’s not obvious that they did it here, and therefore they should not be allowed to hide behind a rule that they themselves have already broken.” Sir Jonathan’s criticism followed reports that the Treasury Department’s first adviser, Sir James Eadie, the government’s independent lawyer on national legal issues, was not specifically asked whether the bill would violate international law. A former cabinet minister told the Independent that not consulting the finance minister’s first adviser was “unprecedented”. Leaked correspondence, meanwhile, showed that a senior legal adviser had warned that it could not be argued “credibly” that there was no alternative to unilaterally bypassing the Brexit deal with Brussels. Stephen Farry, the deputy leader of the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland, said ministers should be transparent about the lawyers requested. “In the light of the fact that the government is moving outside the normal legal advice process, it must be completely transparent,” he said. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has warned that the publication of plans for unilateral action in relation to the protocol would mean a “historic low”. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said the government intended to establish the “legal basis” for its belief that the law would not violate international law.
