Major loss for UK PM over Brexit law breach
Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrives back at Downing Street in London on Tuesday after chairing the weekly cabinet meeting held at the nearby Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a heavy defeat in parliament’s upper chamber on Monday over proposed laws which would allow him to breach Britain’s EU exit treaty.
The Internal Market Bill is aimed to protect trade between Britain’s four nations after Brexit. It contains clauses ministers say are needed to protect Northern Ireland’s delicate status as part of the United Kingdom, but would also break international law.
The House of Lords voted to strip those clauses from the bill in a series of defeats for the ruling Conservative Party. The government does not have a majority in the Lords and even some high-profile Conservative members opposed the clauses.
“The government should see sense, accept the removal of these offending clauses, and start to rebuild our international reputation,” said Angela Smith, the opposition Labour Party’s leader in the Lords.
Far from backing down, however, the government said it would retable the contentious clauses when the bill returns to the House of Commons, where it had previously passed 340 to 256.
Brussels has already launched legal action against Britain over the proposals.
