The bill, due Monday, will bring Johnson into conflict with many of his own Tory MPs, the House of Lords, the EU, lawmakers in Washington and even some business groups in Northern Ireland. An internal note circulating among Tory lawmakers opposed to the bill, which was seen by the Financial Times, said the measure “violates international law and no market for hire lawyers can hide it.” The legislation would eliminate key elements of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, part of an international treaty with the EU. Northern Ireland Minister Brandon Lewis insisted on Sunday that the bill was “legal and proper” and would rectify problems with the protocol, part of Johnson’s Brexit deal. However, ministers privately admit that the bill could be blocked for months by the House of Lords. Lord Chris Patten, the former president of the Tories who led a review of policing in Northern Ireland, said it was “complete madness”.

Johnson argues that the operation of the protocol has created political tensions and upset businesses. New controls are needed on goods traveling to the region, which remains part of the EU’s single goods market, from the rest of the UK. But a note released by the Tories MPs, first reported by PoliticsHome, said: ». Government figures say the bill, drafted in consultation with Tory MEPs by the Eurosceptic European Research Group, would substantially rewrite the protocol. ERG members warned they would vote against the bill if it did not meet their demands. Creates a new regime for border controls: goods from Great Britain destined to remain in Northern Ireland will pass through a ‘green lane’ without controls, while goods destined across the open border to the Republic of Ireland and the EU single market will face “red line” controls. The bill would also end the role of the European Court of Justice in policing the protocol, end EU control of state aid and value-added tax in Northern Ireland and create a dual regulatory regime that would allow products originating in the UK to circulating in the area provided meet UK and non-EU standards. However, the bill also contains a sweeping clause 15, which would give ministers a back-up power to remove other aspects of the protocol if they were considered to be causing political or economic unrest in Northern Ireland. The allies of Liz Truss, the foreign minister who sponsored the bill, insisted that it was a technical “insurance” clause to be used as a settlement exercise. Skeptics in Westminster fear it could be used much more widely. Whitehall experts said officials were surprised by the scope of the new powers. A former cabinet minister said the proposals showed “utter contempt for the people of Northern Ireland”. Some Tory lawmakers fear it could be used to scrap a democratic “consensus vote” on the 2024 protocol, where the people of Northern Ireland could decide whether to go ahead with it. However, government officials insisted that neither Clause 15 was intended nor a possible outcome, as the consensus vote was enshrined in an international treaty and could not be influenced by a change in domestic law. The clause, seen by the FT, will specifically protect only three parts of the protocol, covering human rights, free travel and North-South cooperation in areas such as health and agriculture. Sir Jonathan Jones, the former head of the UK’s legal department who resigned last year over the handling of the protocol issue by the government, said: “They have signed a binding international agreement and can not deactivate these obligations simply by changing the internal fair enough”. Meanwhile, Johnson’s argument that the protocol hurts the economy has been refuted by the Northern Ireland Food, Meat and Dairy industry in recent days, who have sought to maintain it, claiming it has given them valuable access to international markets.