Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said the UK had historically been a “standard bearer” for the rules-based international order, but its intentions regarding the unilateral changing of the protocol was “damaging that reputation in a very fundamental way”.
He reiterated his view on Sunday that the moves being widely flagged, and due to be progressed on Monday with the publication of enabling legislation, represented “a new low in terms of the relationship between Britain and Ireland”, which was something many had worked to “protect and enhance in recent years”.
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald had earlier said Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis was “talking through his hat” by insisting legislation giving ministers powers to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland protocol would not breach international law.
“Brandon Lewis should know, the Tory government should know, that where there are issues to be resolved with the protocol, issues of smoothing out its application, there are mechanisms through which that can happen.
“There is a willingness here, a willingness to engage by the European Commission.
“But the British Government has refused to engage, has not been constructive, has sought a destructive path and is now proposing to introduce legislation that will undoubtedly breach international law.
“And against the expressed democratic wishes of people in the north of Ireland who went to the polls, who made their democratic decision and who have returned a majority of members that support the protocol.”
Mr Lewis had said the Northern Ireland protocol Bill, which is being published on Monday, was based around “protecting the integrity” of the Belfast Agreement. He insisted that when people saw the legislation they would understand it did not breach international law.
The British Labour Party, however, said the UK government was “developing a record for law-breaking”.
Mr Lewis indicated that ministers would release only a precis of the advice setting out the Bill’s legality. Asked whether the full advice would be published, he told the Sky News show Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the government would be “outlining our legal position”.
Asked three times whether James Eadie, the senior barrister whose role as first treasury counsel involves giving ministers independent legal advice, had been asked about the Bill, Mr Lewis declined to say.
“I’m not going to get into the internals of government advice,” he said. Pressed on this, he added: “The government lawyers are very clear that we are working within the law. The attorney general [Suella Braverman] will be setting out the government’s position on that tomorrow.”
The Bill will unilaterally override elements of the post-Brexit protocol with the EU to try to make trade easier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, a move Brussels has warned could spark retaliation.
The hardline Eurosceptic right of the Tory party have put ministers under pressure to take tough action, with MPs having held meetings with the foreign secretary, Liz Truss.
Mr Lewis argued the Bill was intended to safeguard the 1998 Belfast Agreement, regarded as a cornerstone of peace in Northern Ireland: “What we’re looking to do is to fix the problems we’ve seen with the protocol. It’s about how the protocol has been implemented, the lack of flexibility we’ve seen from the EU over the last year and a half.”
But Labour’s Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, told the Ridge show she was concerned the plan would contravene international law.
“We haven’t seen the legislation yet, but it does look like the government plan to break international law,” she said. “This government seems to be developing a record for law-breaking, and it’s not one that the Labour Party can support.
“We helped bring in the Good Friday agreement. We are deeply, passionately committed to it.” — Additional reporting Guardian/PA
