Former Prime Minister Theresa May leads criticism of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet
The House of Commons of the United Kingdom approved on Monday night the processing of the bill that repeals a large part of the Irish Protocol in the Withdrawal Agreement from the European Union. The vote was won by the Government with 295 votes, compared to 221 for the opposition. The project now enters the committee phase and will later be analyzed by the House of Lords.
During the debate, the former Prime Minister, Theresa May, embodied herself as the leader of the opposition to Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, describing the project as contrary to international law and damaging to the country’s reputation in the rest of the world. May also stated that if she becomes law and her powers are executed, she will not achieve her goals.
The Government in this bill gives its ministers powers to repeal the establishment of border controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which are necessary for the region to remain in the common market and in the British market at the same time. Regulations issued with those powers are not approved by Parliament. It also removes the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The Government’s argument is that this law is necessary because border controls create serious problems for the Northern Irish economy and society, and have also caused the collapse of the shared institutions, created in the Belfast Agreement of 1998, when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), as long as fundamental elements of the Protocol are not eliminated. The majority of autonomous deputies elected in May support a reformed Protocol.
Lords opposition expected
The leader of the DUP, Sir Jeffrey Donaldon, has defined in a variable way the conditions of his party to participate again in the Assembly and in the Northern Irish Executive. On some occasions he has stated that the final approval of the bill is the necessary step, and on others that it will also require that the ministers have used the powers that the law would give them to nullify the contentious aspects of the Protocol.
The time spent in processing the bill is therefore important. According to Johnson, it could end before the summer break, in mid-July. According to fellow Conservative Simon Hoare, chairman of the Committee for Northern Ireland Affairs, it could be extended until at least the end of the year. He predicts that the majority in the Lords will hinder the progress of the project.
The European Commission has reactivated a legal procedure against the United Kingdom for having decreed, last year, grace periods in the application of some customs procedures. He has also warned that passing the law would mean that Northern Ireland cannot remain in the common market.
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