On Sunday, Northern Ireland Minister Brandon Lewis tried to reassure them as he vowed that the law would not violate international law and that the government would define its legal position in a separate document. “What we are going to do is legal and right,” he said. But he said it was “wrong at the moment. And it turns out to be part of the problem of having a UK’s internal market governed by the ECJ. There is no logic in that. “ Sir James Eadie, the Treasury Department’s first adviser to the government’s independent lawyer on nationally important legal issues, was consulted, but was not usually asked for specific legal advice. Attorney General Suella Braverman is believed to have given the bill the legal green light on the basis that it is necessary to defend the High Priority Friday agreement that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland and the government says it is in danger of the Protocol. The bill follows months of pressure from the EU Prime Minister to agree on a “significant change” to the Protocol, including the liberation of Northern Ireland from the ECJ. Mr Johnson dropped demand earlier this year, although he was revived by Mrs Truss. According to reports Sunday, Michael Gove and Risi Sunak joined forces last week to fight Secretary of State’s plans to enact legislation to circumvent the Protocol. In an intense meeting with representatives of the Eurosceptic ERG on Wednesday, Mr Johnson is said to have initially sided with Mr Sunak and Mr Gove against the ERG, who argued that any reference to the ECJ should be deleted from the Protocol. However, on Thursday, the bill was tabled with clauses limiting the role of the ECJ and giving the final say in British courts, prompting allegations by senior Civil Service officials that its writing had been “subcontracted” by Mrs Truss to the ERG, a heavy category. denied the Foreign Minister.
British courts ‘must have the last word’
The bill is expected to face strong opposition from the Lords. Writing in The Telegraph, Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, accused some of his peers, such as Baroness Wheatcroft, of already “punching” by saying they would block the bill because they claimed it was the Lords’ job to “keep the law”. “The government will only table such a bill if it complies with international law. We simply cannot continue to do so as we see the Good Friday Agreement being destroyed by the Protocol. “We have to act,” he said. “We must ensure that the courts of the United Kingdom have the final say in the operation of any agreement, not the European Court of Justice.” The DUP is reportedly expected by ministers to return to a power-sharing deal in Stormont ahead of the summer recess to prove to the EU and the US that the Protocol issues can be resolved.
