Boris Johnson has been accused by Tory MPs of “harming the UK and everything the Conservatives stand for” as he prepares to publish a bill to break his 2020 Brexit deal with the EU, which covers trade with Northern Ireland.
The bill, which will be released on 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 who oppose the bill and seen by the Financial Times said the measure “violates international law and no shopping for hiring lawyers can hide that.”
The legislation will delete key elements of the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol, part of an international agreement with the EU. It will also give ministers broad powers – government officials insist they are simply an “insurance policy” – to change almost every aspect of the text.
Brandon Lewis, secretary of Northern Ireland, insisted on Sunday that the bill was “legal and correct” and would resolve the issues in the protocol, part of Johnson’s Brexit deal.
However, ministers acknowledge that the bill could be blocked for months by the House of Lords. Lord Chris Patton, a former Tory chairman who led a police survey in Northern Ireland, said it was “complete madness”.
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Johnson claims that the operation of the protocol has created political tensions and disruptions in business. New checks are needed on goods traveling in the region, which remains part of the EU’s single market, for the rest of the UK.
But a note shared by Tory MPs, first reported by PoliticsHome, reads: “Violation of international law to break the prime minister’s own treaty is detrimental to everything the UK and conservatives are pushing for.
Government insiders say the bill, drafted in consultation with Tory MPs from the European Eurosceptic Study Group, will fundamentally rewrite the protocol. ERG members have warned they will vote against the bill unless it complies with their demands.
It creates a new border control regime: goods from the UK destined to stay in Northern Ireland will go through a “green belt” without checks, while goods heading across the open border to the Republic of Ireland and the EU single market will face red tape checks.
The bill will also end the role of the European Court of Justice in reviewing the protocol, end EU scrutiny of state aid and value added tax in Northern Ireland, and create a dual regulatory regime allowing goods originating in the UK. to circulate in the given region, they meet UK standards, not EU standards.
However, the bill also contains an extensive clause 15, which will give ministers reserve powers to tear down other aspects of the protocol if they are deemed to be causing political or economic disruption in Northern Ireland.
Liz Truss’s allies, the foreign minister who sponsored the bill, insisted it was a technical “insurance” clause to be used as a stacking exercise; Skeptics in Westminster fear it could be used much more widely.
Insiders in Whitehall said employees were stunned by the scope of the new powers. A former cabinet minister said the proposals showed “complete contempt for the people of Northern Ireland”.
Some Tory MPs fear it could be used to remove the democratic “vote of consent” under the protocol, set for 2024, where people in Northern Ireland can decide whether to continue with it.
However, government officials insisted that this was neither the intention of Clause 15 nor a possible outcome, as the vote on consent was enshrined in an international treaty and could not be affected by changes in domestic law.
The clause seen by the FT would specifically protect only three parts of the protocol, covering the rights of individuals, free travel and north-south cooperation in areas such as health and agriculture.
Sir Jonathan Jones, the former head of the UK government’s legal department, who left last year to govern the issue with the protocol, said: “They have signed a binding international agreement and cannot exclude these obligations by changing domestic law alone.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s argument that the protocol harms the economy has been challenged by Northern Ireland’s food, meat and dairy industries in recent days, which have called for it to be maintained, arguing that it gives them valuable access to international markets.
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