The European Union did not "take its gun off the table", Boris Johnson told British MPs on Monday (September 14th) to justify the bill to free London from certain clauses of the negotiated Brexit deal with the European Union in defiance of international law.   

At the start of debates in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister said the text would prevent the EU from using the separation agreement to block food exports from the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland.

"The intention of this bill is clearly to prevent any use of the baton against this country," he said.

"That's what it's for. It's protection, it's a safety net, it's an insurance policy and it's a very reasonable measure." 

>> To read: Brexit: Ireland denounces Boris Johnson's "lies"

Damaging the country's reputation 

Boris Johnson, who has a majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons, faces the challenge of some of the elected Conservatives, his five predecessors in Downing Street and several of his relatives, such as the former - Minister of Finance Sajid Javid.

"Violating international law is a step that should never be taken lightly," the latter said in a statement. 

For his part, Ed Miliband, one of the Labor opposition leaders in the House, criticized Boris Johnson for damaging the reputation of the entire country. 

"I would never have thought that respect for international law could be, in my lifetime, a subject of disagreement (in Parliament)," he said.

"I could never have imagined that he would come here to say, 'We are going to legislate to violate international law in an agreement that we signed less than a year ago.' 

"It sullies the reputation of this country and it sullies the reputation of its mandate", he added of the Prime Minister. 

"In the name of the queen"

The former legal adviser of Boris Johnson, Geoffrey Cox, thanked in February, estimated for its part in The Times that it was going to respect the word given "in the name of the queen". 

The divorce agreement contains specific provisions for Northern Ireland grouped together in a protocol which aims: 

1. to avoid a return to a physical border between Ireland and Northern Ireland and thus not undermine the peace accords of April 1998 which put an end to thirty years of "unrest" in the province;  

2. to preserve the integrity of the European single market by keeping Northern Ireland aligned with a limited set of EU rules, in particular as regards goods; 

3. to keep Northern Ireland in the customs territory of the United Kingdom. 

Ultimatum 

Boris Johnson's decision plunged the negotiations between London and Brussels into crisis again, less than four months before the actual implementation of Brexit (the divorce formally entered into force on January 31, but a transition period is short until the end of the year to allow the two parties to agree on their future relationship). 

The Europeans, who have accelerated their preparations for a no-deal exit, gave the Johnson government until the end of the month to withdraw the bill, an ultimatum rejected by London. 

But some diplomats believe the Johnson government is trying a coup to get what it expects from negotiations on the future trade relationship, or get out without a deal. 

A negotiation "tactic" 

The head of Irish diplomacy, Simon Coveney, sees it as a "tactic" of negotiation in the home straight of the discussions. 

Boris Johnson accuses the EU of threatening to use the separation agreement reached in January to erect trade barriers between Britain and Northern Ireland, and he even mentions the risk of a food blockade. 

But the bill unveiled last Wednesday by his government, the Internal Market Bill, is met with strong opposition in Brussels and the United Kingdom. 

With Reuters

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