Hyderabad: The coronavirus pandemic has forced Britain's Brexit plan in dismay and now the Boris Johnson government has come up with fresh changes avoiding the European Union's calls completely amid raining criticism from across Europe.
The furor is largely based on the fact that Britain's bill would diminish the EU’s previously agreed oversight of trade between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland in the event a trade agreement isn't secured.
EU leaders have expressed anger and bafflement at the UK's announcement that it will breach an international treaty with a bill that would diminish the EU’s oversight of trade between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland.
With the government showing no sign of changing course, there are real concerns that ongoing talks on a future trade deal between the UK and the EU could collapse within weeks. If that happens, tariffs and other impediments to trade will be imposed by both sides at the start of 2021.
Johnson defends Brexit change
Boris Johnson has strongly defended his government's plan to override sections of the Brexit deal he negotiated with the European Union, arguing that the EU has an “extreme” interpretation of the treaty that could jeopardize the UK's future.
In a column published on Saturday in The Daily Telegraph, Johnson said the government's Internal Market Bill is needed to end EU threats to impose a “blockade” in the Irish Sea that the prime minister asserted could “carve up our country."
Law violation
The legislation, which the British government has conceded violates international law in places, has prompted a furious outcry within the EU and Johnson's Conservative Party. British lawmakers are expected to debate it this week.
The British government argues that it's an insurance policy in the event a trade deal with the EU is not secured by the end of this year.
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Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told the BBC on Sunday that the legislation was a “break the glass in emergency provision," if needed, and that he would resign if he believed the rule of law was broken in an “unacceptable” way.
“I don’t believe we’re going to get to that stage,” he said.
EU warns UK over Brexit deal breach
The 27 European Union nations presented a firmly united front to the U.K. on Friday after the British government said it plans to violate part of their Brexit divorce agreement, warning London that there was little chance of a new trade deal unless the U.K. reverses course.
The European Parliament's lead lawmaker on Brexit said that even if a free trade agreement is struck, the EU legislature will refuse to ratify it unless Britain drops a proposal to override parts of the legally binding withdrawal agreement.
Ireland, which has the EU's only land border with the U.K., stands to lose the most in a breakdown of trade talks. Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe welcomed “solidarity and support” from his colleagues in other EU countries.
Britain says its law is intended to ensure there are no barriers to trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. in the event that there is no deal with the EU.
A no-deal Brexit on Jan. 1 would hit some EU nations, including Ireland, France, Belgium and the Netherlands especially hard. But none were ready to make concessions to U.K. demands, which the EU views as seeking free access to the EU market while refusing to guarantee fair competition.
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“Should the U.K. breach the withdrawal agreement, the European Parliament won’t ratify a future agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom," said David McAllister, a German politician who heads the European Parliament’s U.K.-EU coordination group.
Former UK leaders unite against Johnson
Two former British prime ministers who played crucial roles in bringing peace to Northern Ireland joined forces Sunday to urge lawmakers to reject government plans to override the Brexit deal with the European Union, arguing that it imperils that peace and damages the U.K.'s reputation.
In an article in The Sunday Times, John Major and Tony Blair slammed the current British government for “shaming” the country with legislation that, in places, goes against the very deal it signed to allow for the U.K.'s smooth departure from the EU earlier this year.
Major, a Conservative prime minister from 1990 to 1997, and Blair, his Labour successor for a decade, said Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Internal Market Bill “questions the very integrity" of the U.K.
“This government’s action is shaming itself and embarrassing our nation," they said.
UK-Japan trade deal
The UK secured its first major post-Brexit trade deal on Friday after signing an agreement with Japan just as discussions with the European Union appeared to be teetering on the brink of collapse.
The deal, which is largely a rollover of one the UK enjoyed as a member of the EU, has only been agreed upon in principle. Other rollover deals are in the works, too, including with Canada and South Korea.
“The agreement we have negotiated — in record time and in challenging circumstances — goes far beyond the existing EU deal, as it secures new wins for British businesses in our great manufacturing, food and drink, and tech industries," said Britain's international trade secretary, Liz Truss, who pointed to concessions on English sparkling wine and Wensleydale cheese.
The government said UK businesses will benefit from tariff-free trade on 99% of exports to Japan and that it will give British businesses a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region. Overall, it said the deal with Japan, the world's third-largest economy, will increase commerce with Tokyo by around 15 billion pounds ($19 billion) and deliver a 1.5 billion-pound boost to the UK.
The U.K. left the EU on Jan. 31, but it is in a transition period that effectively sees it benefit from the bloc’s tariff-free trade until the end of the year while a future relationship is negotiated. Even before the latest standoff, discussions between the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and his U.K. counterpart, David Frost, had made very little progress.
With inputs from agencies
