Brexit: Controversial Internal Market Bill to come before parliament TODAY
Boris Johnson’s controversial Internal Market Bill, that may breach international law, will come back to MPs today after the House of Lords rejected it.
Clauses pertaining to Northern Ireland that will breach the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, and therefore international law, if there is no post-Brexit UK-EU trade deal were taken out of the bill by peers last month.
However, the government has said it will reinsert them when the piece of legislation is brought back to the House of Commons later today.
Downing Street has said the bill is essential to protect the flow of trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland if the UK leaves the EU’s customs union without a deal on 31 December.
Northern Ireland will remain in the EU’s customs union next year to ensure there is not a hard border on the island or Ireland that would breach the Good Friday Belfast Agreement.
However, the EU has launched a legal challenge against the legislation and has claimed it could put the Good Friday Agreement in jeopardy.
MPs will vote on the House of Lords’ changes to the Internal Market Bill on Thursday, with their amendments set to be voted down.
On Thursday, Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said the government would be “pushing back” against the House of Lords.
“We will be doing the Lords amendments on Monday and we will be pushing back all the amendments which were made in the Lords – including the ones relating to Clause 5 and ensuring that we can put the best interests of the whole United Kingdom first,” he said.
Also on the Westminster calendar will be a Health and Science and Technology Committee meeting featuring chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Christ Whitty.
The duo will appear at the committee at Wednesday at 9.30am and will speak about “lessons learned” during the Covid pandemic.