Former Prime Minister Theresa May and ex-chancellor Savid Javid led the Tory rebellion against Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill last night.
Mrs May joined Mr Javid in abstaining to vote on the controversial Internal Markets order, but it still managed to clear the House of Commons.
Labour had also tried to get it thrown out over fears it broke international law without success.
Mr Javid, who resigned his post in February after rejecting Mr Johnson’s order to fire his team of aides, made clear his reason for refusing to vote.
He said in a statement: ‘Breaking international law is a step that should never be taken lightly.
‘Having carefully studied the UK Internal Market Bill it is not clear to me why it is necessary to do so’.
Boris Johnson has said the legislation was necessary to prevent the EU taking an ‘extreme and unreasonable’ interpretation of the provisions in the Withdrawal Agreement relating to Northern Ireland.+21
The Opposition’s amendment to scrap the controversial bill failed on Monday night, winning just 213 ‘aye’ votes, compared to 349 noes.
MPs have also now voted to give the UK Internal Market Bill a second reading by 340 to 263 – a Government majority of 77.
Two Tory MPs, Sir Roger Gale and Andrew Percy, voted against the Bill, while 30 did not cast a vote – although some may have been ‘paired’ with opposition MPs.
The Government tally was bolstered by the support of seven DUP MPs.
The Commons will begin detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill on Tuesday, with votes expected next week on amendments to the Northern Ireland provisions which some Tories may back.
Michael Gove has now accused the European Union of not always being constructive in talks over post-Brexit trade relations, as he urged legislators to back a government bill that would breach the divorce deal between London and Brussels.
‘The EU has not always been the constructive partner that all of us might have hoped,’ Gove said in closing remarks at the end of a House of Commons debate on the controversial Internal Market bill.
‘We were told that we would get a Canada deal. That’s not on the table,’ said Gove, adding that on the disputed subject of fisheries the EU stance amounted to wanting rights to fish in UK waters just like before Brexit.
It comes after Boris Johnson accused the European Union of putting a ‘revolver’ on the table during trade talks as he lashed out at the bloc for allegedly threatening to block food exports from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
The Prime Minister said that in recent months the EU had signalled it was willing to go to ‘extreme and unreasonable lengths’ if it does not get its way in negotiations.
He said the bloc wanted to use measures contained within the Brexit divorce deal in a way that goes ‘beyond common sense’ in order to ‘exert leverage against the UK’.
The legislation will enable the UK to unilaterally make decisions on key issues, like customs arrangements between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland, contained within the Withdrawal Agreement.
He said the ‘most glaring example’ was the EU suggesting it could ban UK food exports to the bloc which would also ‘create an instant and automatic prohibition on the transfer of our animal products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland’.
The Prime Minister said the EU was effectively threatening to ‘blockade’ the movement of goods ‘within our own country’ as he claimed Brussels was yet to ‘take that particular revolver off the table’.
The PM made the comments in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon as he sought to quash a Tory rebellion over his plans to tear up parts of the Withdrawal Agreement.
But Labour’s shadow business secretary, Ed Miliband, who was standing in for Sir Keir Starmer, accused the PM of ‘legislative hooliganism’ and ‘incompetence’.
Ministers have admitted the proposals would break international law and a growing number of Tory MPs have said they will not be able to support the Bill.
MP Rehman Chishti quit yesterday morning as the PM’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief because of his opposition to the Bill as he said he believed ‘if we give our word, then we must honour it’.
Separately, David Cameron became the fifth former prime minister to condemn Mr Johnson’s plans as he said on Monday breaking international law should only ever be an ‘absolute final resort’ and that he had ‘misgivings’ about the approach. +21
Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband accused the Prime Minister of ‘legislative hooliganism’
Cameron: Breaking an international treaty should be a ‘final resort’
Theresa May’s former legal chief Geoffrey Cox (pictured together in 2019) said it would be ‘unconscionable’ for the Government to override the Brexit divorce deal
Brussels is adamant that the decisions must be made by a joint committee made up of people from both sides – as set out in the treaty.
But the Government argues its new proposals are necessary in order to protect the integrity of the UK should the two sides be unable to agree terms.
However, many Tories are alarmed at the potential impact reneging would have on the UK’s global reputation, and could support an amendment to introduce a ‘parliamentary lock’ later in the process.
Mr Johnson tried to win over Conservative rebels as he told the Commons the legislation ‘should be welcomed by everyone who cares about the sovereignty and integrity of our United Kingdom’.
Setting out his reasons for trying to override parts of the Brexit divorce deal, he said: ‘I regret to have to tell the House that in recent months the EU has suggested that it is willing to go to extreme and unreasonable lengths.
‘Using the Northern Ireland protocol in a way that goes well beyond common sense, simply to exert leverage against the UK in our negotiations for a free trade agreement.
‘To take the most glaring example, the EU has said that if we fail to reach an agreement to their satisfaction they might very well refuse to list the UK’s food and agricultural products for sale anywhere in the EU.
‘And it gets even worse because under this protocol that decision would create an instant and automatic prohibition on the transfer of our animal products from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
EU to delay euro clearing decision over Boris Brexit law threat
The European Union is set to delay a decision on allowing clearing houses in London to continue clearing euro transactions for EU-based clients due to Britain’s plan to breach part of the Brexit divorce settlement.
The delay is one of the first warning shots from the EU as MPs vote later on a bill that would breach parts of Britain’s Withdrawal Agreement from the bloc.
Brussels had said it would grant Britain ‘time-limited’ access to euro derivatives clearing from January to avoid huge disruption to markets, as a unit of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) clears over 90 per cent euro-denominated swaps that are widely used by companies.
The European Commission was due to formally take that decision later this week, but is now expected to delay it until around the end of the month, Reuters reported, the source said, citing an a derivatives industry source.
The Commission had no immediate comment.
The delay was linked to Britain’s perceived unpicking of the Withdrawal Agreement it signed with the bloc, the source added.
Britain left the EU in January and transition arrangements that still allow unfettered access to the bloc end on December 31. Without legal certainty of access to the EU, the LSE’s clearing unit LCH must give its clients in the bloc three-months’ notice to move billions of euros worth of swaps positions out of Britain.
Euro clearing has long been a battleground between Britain, to keen to preserve London’s clout as a global finance hub, and EU policymakers, who believe the bulk of activity should reside in the euro zone under the eye of the European Central Bank.
But moving large swaps positions from LCH to rivals such as Deutsche Boerse’s Eurex in Frankfurt in a short time would be costly for banks and unnerve markets.
Brussels had therefore opted to allow more time for this to happen, although it had not said how much time.
If Britain’s bill to override parts of its Brexit divorce settlement becomes law it could sour its attempts to have access to other financial activities in the bloc such as trading shares.
‘Our interlocutors on the other side are holding out the possibility of blockading food and agricultural transports within our own country.’
He added: ‘I have to say that absurd and self-defeating as that action would be, even as we debate this matter the EU has not taken that particular revolver off the table.
‘I hope that they will do so and that we can reach a Canada-style free trade agreement as well.’
Mr Miliband accused Mr Johnson of presiding over ‘legislative hooliganism’, telling the Commons: ‘I don’t understand this. He signed the deal, it’s his deal, it is the deal that he said would protect the people of Northern Ireland
