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EurActiv (10 September 2020)

Boris Johnson’s government put itself on a collision course with the EU on Wednesday  (9 September) after publishing a bill that would breach key parts of its Withdrawal Agreement with the bloc.

The Internal Market Bill, designed to govern trade within the UK’s four nations, states that there will be no new checks on goods moving from Northern Ireland to the rest of Great Britain. It also gives UK ministers powers to modify or “disapply” rules relating to the movement of goods that will come into force from 1 January, when the UK leaves the EU’s single market, if a successor trade agreement is not reached.

Both provisions run counter to the Irish Protocol which guarantees that customs checks at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic do not return. By using the words “notwithstanding” on several occasions, the bill would set aside previously agreed law.

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