MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2020) The United Kingdom's Internal Market Bill aims to protect the country from the European Union's "extreme interpretations" of the Northern Ireland protocol and secure its territorial integrity, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday.
During the grilling at the liaison committee, Johnson said that the contentious bill would provide a "belt and braces protection against extreme interpretations of the [Northern Ireland] protocol."
To a question of whether the EU was negotiating in good faith, he replied: "I don't believe they are."
When pressed whether the bill breaks law, he dodged a definitive answer.
"Look at what the A-G [Attorney General for England and Wales Suella Braverman] says in her summary. My position is the A-G's position. And the objective of these measures is to protect this country against accidental or unreasonable measures that serve to break up the UK," the prime minister maintained.
The Internal Market Bill sent shockwaves through the Brexit negotiation process, as it provides that the country may roll back some of the commitments on state aid and customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland, thus overriding the withdrawal deal.
According to the government's legal position, summed up by Braverman, "parliament is sovereign as a matter of domestic law and can pass legislation which is in breach of the UK's Treaty obligations." The parliament "would not be acting unconstitutionally" in passing it, as treaty obligations only become binding when they are enshrined in domestic legislation, the legal position said. The cabinet insists that the bill's purpose is to protect peace in Northern Ireland and to maintain the UK's internal market.
