RPT: REVIEW - UK's Proposed Internal Market Bill Sparks Disputes Over Compliance With Int'l Law

BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th September, 2020) With the negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal ongoing between the United Kingdom and the European Union, the UK lawmakers are divided over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's new UK Internal Market Bill including changes to the Withdrawal Agreement reached in January and potentially breaking international law.

The new bill, introduced by the prime minister to the UK parliament on Wednesday, seeks to ensure barrier-free trade between the United Kingdom's four constituent nations. Earlier this week, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told parliament that the proposed bill would "break international law in a very specific and limited way" by amending the UK's Brexit deal with the EU.

In particular, the new bill will seek to override parts of the Northern Ireland protocol that was introduced to the Brexit deal. Proposed customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom, a major demand from the EU, have been a major sticking point of negotiations.

The so-called Northern Ireland Protocol � an element of the 2019 Withdrawal Agreement � aims at preventing a "hard border" with customs controls between the two territorial entities on the island of Ireland after Brexit.

The practicalities of the protocol that will deal with issues of state aid � financial support given to businesses by governments � and whether there need to be customs checks on goods, are still being negotiated by a joint UK and EU committee. If the talks fail, the bill will "take limited and reasonable steps to create a safety net," Lewis told the parliament on Tuesday, admitting that it will contradict international law.

While Conservative Party lawmaker Bob Neill emphatically said that the "adherence to the rule of law is not negotiable," Lewis stated that there was "clear precedence for the UK and indeed other countries needing to consider their obligations if circumstances change." At the same time, the secretary noted that the government was still working "in good faith" with the EU joint committee to overcome its concerns for the future of trade in Northern Ireland.

Neill later told BBC Radio that "the decision was troubling ... Britain is a country, which prides itself on standing by the rule of law ... whether it is inconvenient or convenient for us. Whatever we seek to do, if we find something we signed up to 'inconvenient,' I am afraid this does not mean we can renege on our contract ... as that would damage our reputation long term."

The attack clearly came from the side of Theresa May, the former prime minister and a Tory lawmaker, who is angry at seeing one of the few remnants of her deal with Brussels, the Northern Ireland Protocol, unraveling because of its impracticability.

"This Parliament voted that withdrawal agreement into UK legislation. The government is now changing the operation of that agreement. How can the government reassure future international partners that the UK can be trusted to abide by the legal obligations of the agreements it signs?" May told the parliament earlier this week.

In addition, the leaders of the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats, Keir Starmer and Ed Davey, respectively, expressed their dismay and called it a "sad and shocking state of affairs for our country."

With the discussions on the protocol ongoing in the UK, the Irish government also expressed its concern but in measured terms. Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney called Lewis' comments in Westminster "gravely concerning," saying that any unilateral departure from the terms of the Brexit deal would be "a matter of considerable concern and a very serious step."

The republic of Ireland � one of the major trade partners with the United Kingdom � namely its strong agricultural sector, is very much dependent upon its sales to the UK. Despite concerns voiced by former Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and lawmaker Micheal Martin, the republic will have to accept the terms of the UK, which has no interest either to make border formalities excessive.

However, Johnson has been seeking to make sure that the agreement between London and Dublin on border controls is not subject to scrutiny or approval by the European Court of Justice and that London has full independence from the EU for all its policies.

The whole discussion over the proposed bill in the UK parliament seems very much like an effort by the Labour Party, Liberal Democrats and Scottish nationalist opposition, as well as few supporters left of May, to discredit Johnson and his team, as they are finalizing the discussions with EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.

According to the prime minister, changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol should be minor and will be discussed mainly in a bilateral dialogue with Dublin. When asked by the BBC broadcaster if the government could do such a thing, a respected Cambridge academic, specialist of international law, Catherine Barnard, confirmed that the government would consider applying Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which enables a state to get out of its treaty obligations when circumstances change radically.

At the same time, the professor noted that those changed circumstances have to be pretty dramatic � "something like the dissolution of Yugoslavia, when a recognised country ceases to exist" � to be valid.

For most Conservatives supporting Johnson, the exit from the EU is a pretty important "once in a lifetime" issue, for which Article 62 of the Vienna Convention would be perfectly valid. But the key is a short paragraph in the Northern Ireland Protocol, stating that the parliament of Westminster has the ultimate responsibility of judging what is right and has the final say in all matters related to sovereignty.

Commenting on the upcoming vote on the bill in the UK Parliament, Francis Cole, the ex-civil servant at the European Commission and close adviser to Nigel Farage from the UK Independence Party, told Sputnik that though the Labour Party and the rest of the opposition will vote against it, the Conservatives would have a comfortable majority.

"This adaptation is necessary to retain the unity of the United Kingdom with Northern Ireland, that � for Boris Johnson � cannot depend upon agreements and approvals from Brussels or the European Court of Justice about trade formalities at the Irish border. Northern Ireland is not in any way part of the EU anymore," Cole said, adding that with the total freedom to distribute state aid to UK companies and the protection of UK fishing rights, the Irish border is the last hurdle before the country can leave the European bloc.

According to the politician, the bill's adoption will falter in the coming weeks the current negotiations led by UK chief negotiator David Frost and Barnier aimed at saving the trade deal. At the same time, Cole added that such an outcome might be even better for the future of an independent UK.

"If Britain is successful in the coming years, this will certainly give ideas to other European member states to take their distances from the European federalist project," Cole noted.

Commenting on the Irish border and few changes brought to the Withdrawal Agreement, the politician said that "this is much ado about nothing much."