United Kingdom Internal Market Bill

Damian Green Excerpts

Monday 21st September 2020 Commons Chamber

[David Linden (Glasgow East) (SNP)]

This is the first opportunity I have had to speak on the Bill, which I have profound concerns about, so I want to use the early part of my remarks to lay out my clear objections to the Bill. After that, I will seek to address part 5 of the Bill, which is the focus of our line-by-line scrutiny tonight.

Like many colleagues from Scotland, I have grave concerns that the Bill is not only a slap in the face to the rule of international law but undermines the very foundations of the devolution settlements, which are so precious to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. That should not surprise the people of Scotland, who witnessed the Tories campaign vehemently against devolution in the 1997 referendum. The truth is that the Conservatives and this Prime Minister in particular have never respected the devolution arrangements. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Ian Blackford) reminded the House last week, it was a former Daily Telegraph writer who wrote a tirade against devolution, saying:

“Devolution is causing all the strains that its opponents predicted, and in allowing the Scots to make their own laws, while free-riding on English taxpayers, it is simply unjust.”

That former Daily Telegraph writer was, of course, the current First Lord of the Treasury, the Prime Minister.

From the outset, I absolutely reject the Bill and will vote against it at every opportunity until it is foisted on to the statute books by a Tory Government that people in my country never voted for. But let us be crystal clear about the draft legislation before us and the consequences of it receiving Royal Assent. For a start, the Bill would undoubtedly lead to a race to the bottom on food and environmental standards. Indeed, it creates more, not less, uncertainty for businesses and makes the case that the only way to truly defend the Scottish Parliament is with the normal powers of independence.

I am long enough in the tooth to know that Committee of the whole House means that my remarks have to be focused on the specific clauses at hand, so I will not test your patience much longer, Dame Rosie, and will seek to focus on part 5 of the Bill. Indeed, I will make specific and limited references to clauses 40 to 45, but in doing so, I wish to indicate my support for amendments 27, 31 to 40, 44, 80, 88 and 89, in the name of my hon. Friends on the SNP Benches, and I will also support new clauses 5 and 6 if they are put to a Division.

I want to first deal with the issue of breaching international law, which has been the source of much debate this evening and in recent weeks. Since this is the first time that I have participated in proceedings on the Bill, I have had the opportunity to watch all of this play out, particularly on Second Reading last week, and I am still not quite sure what to make of it, if I am truly honest.

Part of me still finds it jaw-dropping and astonishing that the Conservative party—once the party of law and order—is now openly flouting international law. But then I realise that we have been here before, because this is a Government and a Prime Minister who do not respect or uphold the law. It is a timely reminder of the events this time last year, when my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Edinburgh South West (Joanna Cherry) forced the Government into the Supreme Court, which found their actions to prorogue Parliament “unlawful”, so should we be surprised at this Government putting two fingers up to the judiciary? Ministers need to think again, not just because it is morally wrong to break the law, but because it is also a clear breach of the ministerial code. David Anderson QC was bang on the money when he said:

“The Ministerial Code still mandates compliance with international law, despite a change to its wording, as the Court of Appeal confirmed in 2018”.

However, the controversy surrounding the clauses before us tonight is not just about upholding the rule of law, which is surely the most basic thing we would expect from a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Pushing ahead with this madness will have an impact for post-Brexit Britain on the world stage. What does it say about a post-Brexit global Britain that its first act as an independent state is to tear up the rules-based order? I would argue that it sends a clear signal that Britain under Boris is giving two fingers up to not just international law but peace on the island of Ireland, and that is what worries me most about all this. Tory Ministers and Back Benchers appear, once again, to be playing fast and loose with Northern Ireland, with little understanding of the consequences for the fragile communities over there, or indeed for the knock-on effect on trade.

We know that pressing ahead with this reckless act is a sure-fire way of torpedoing any chance of a trade deal with the United States. How do we know that? Because the Americans have said so already. Take Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of Congress, who said:

“The U.K. must respect the Northern Ireland Protocol as signed with the EU to ensure the free flow of goods across the border. If the U.K. violates that international treaty and Brexit undermines the Good Friday accord, there will be absolutely no chance of a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement passing the Congress.”

Most of us know that playing fast and loose with the Northern Ireland protocol, as the Bill proposes, will not end well, but imagine my surprise when I saw some tweets from the right hon. Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) suggesting:

“Trade deals are nice to have but not essential. We didn’t have a trade deal with the USA when in the EU. Getting back full control of our laws, our money and our borders is essential.”

I am a bit confused, because one caucus of the Tory party, headed up by the International Trade Secretary, says that Brexit is all about new opportunities for trade, and Brextremists such as the right hon. Gentleman say that trade deals are nice but not essential—all the while the Government are playing fast and loose with peace on the island of Ireland.

The fact is that the Bill, and specifically the three clauses before us, are a clear advert for what Brexit Britain looks like: playing peace with Northern Ireland; riding roughshod over devolution; a race to the bottom on food and environmental standards; and two fingers up to upholding the rule of law. People in Scotland can see that it is an advert for post-Brexit Britain, and do not be surprised if they trade it in for independence and take back control the next time Scotland has the opportunity.

[Damian Green (Ashford) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Gentleman. It is a sign of how fast moving these debates are that when I put into speak this evening I intended to support amendment 4 in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Sir Robert Neill), but before I got the chance to speak he had already indicated his intention of withdrawing it. He is doing so for the best of reasons. It was an excellent amendment, and I am glad that the Government have said that they agree with the thrust of it, so we can discuss a different set of points.

I know that many of my friends and colleagues abstained or voted against the Bill on Second Reading because of their doubts about part 5. I voted in favour because I think that the other 50 clauses are excellent and essential. The UK internal market is key to the future prosperity of people in all four countries of the United Kingdom, and the principles of market recognition and non-discrimination are at the heart of the future prosperity of our citizens in all parts of the UK.

However, I shared the doubts that many had about clauses 42, 43 and 45—the essential parts of part 5 of the Bill—and I was quite shocked to hear a Secretary of State say that the UK Government were planning to break the law, even in a specific and limited way. I had not ever expected to hear any Secretary of State say that, particularly not a Conservative one, so I am genuinely delighted that the Government have taken over my hon. Friend’s amendment. I think that is a wise and pragmatic thing for the Government to have done, and I am glad to have played my part in the talks that led to it.

It is important that the House recognise that this is more than just kicking the can down the road, if I can revive one of the great clichés of 2018 political debate. The Government amendment needs to be put in context with the public statement that the Government have made on gov.uk and, indeed, some of the words that the Minister uttered in opening this debate, when he made it clear that Parliament will be asked to support the use of the provisions in the clauses, and any similar subsequent provisions, only in the case of the EU being engaged in a material breach of its duties of good faith and, in the Government’s view, thereby undermining the fundamental purpose of the Northern Ireland protocol, and giving examples of what that would involve.

It seems to me that, despite the various attacks on the Bill that we have heard, the case is now straightforward. If the Government can convince the House that those on the other side in the negotiations have broken the rules, they can proceed. At that point, the Government have said, the dispute resolution procedures in the withdrawal agreement will come into force, which I think is another sign of legal action. But the key point is that the Government will have to make the case to this House that the EU has broken the agreement, not the UK. I am absolutely sure that that proposition will provoke a lively debate in this House, and indeed across the channel, but in the light of that debate we will then decide and we will make the law. If the Government cannot make the case that they are behaving properly, proportionately and legally, they will not convince the House. It seems to me that that is how law making should happen in this parliamentary democracy.

This is where I part company with my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), who made a passionate and powerful speech. She said that there was no difference between the Executive acting and Parliament acting, but I do not think that is true. I think that there is much greater force in action taken knowingly by the House of Commons, particularly in this context, when it is considering whether the Government are acting lawfully. Putting that power in the hands of the House of Commons is democratically proper and therefore legally proper.

The Northern Ireland clauses of the Bill have not had an easy passage, for good and serious reasons, but we are now in a much better place with them than we were a week ago, and I am now happy to support the Government on this and on the Bill more generally.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Dame Rosie. During the passage of the Bill, I have spoken extensively on the attacks on devolution, on the specific consequences for Northern Ireland and the Good Friday agreement, and indeed on the failure of the Prime Minister to deliver on his oven-ready Brexit deal.

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) for his speech, but I also wish to pay tribute to the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), the former Prime Minister, for her comments. I have disagreed with her courteously on many issues over the years, but she is a person of principle, public service and integrity. I am afraid that I cannot say the same about some of the others, including our current Prime Minister, our rubber stamp of an Attorney General or our now-compliant Lord Chancellor, who once stood up for the rule of law during his time in practice in south Wales, but who now seems willing, in his own words, to “fudge it”. Indeed, there are the contradictions of our Foreign Secretary, who one minute is rightly arguing for international law and human rights, such as the Magnitsky sanctions and everything that goes with them, but the next minute is undermining them.

I am afraid that the damage that the Government’s statements have done to our reputation is incalculable. The right hon. Member for Maidenhead, who is no longer in her place, said

“frankly, my view is that to the outside world, it makes no difference whether a decision to break international law is taken by a Minister or by this Parliament; it is still a decision to break international law. This can only weaken the UK in the eyes of the world… It will lead to untold damage to the United Kingdom’s reputation.”

I agree with every word.

We have heard many powerful speeches, from Members across the House, expressing deep concern about where the Bill is taking us. I urge those who have stood up with principle and questioned the Government and put forward amendments to think again. The Prime Minister has repeatedly broken his word: he has broken it to the Taoiseach; he has broken it to our negotiating partners in the European Union; and he has broken it to Members on his own side repeatedly. Do not trust him.

A number of arguments have been made that suggest there are some sort of special exemptions in the Vienna convention and various international treaties. That is simply not the case. The House of Commons Library—neutral, respected and authoritative—has been very clear, saying that this is a far-reaching power to effectively allow the violation of

“any international obligation that may be engaged in the creation of regulations under clauses 42 and 43.”

It notes that this is not limited specifically to a violation of the Northern Ireland protocol but to

“all international obligations that may have legal implications in this context.”

It also makes it clear that, under the Vienna convention,

‘“A party may not invoke the provisions of its internal law as justification for its failure to perform a treaty.’ This means that this Bill cannot change the legally binding nature, in international law, of the UK’s international obligations.”

It also makes it crystal clear that

“parliamentary sovereignty does not change the binding nature of the UK’s international obligations.”

It is there in black and white.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Bernard Jenkin]

I am grateful to have caught your eye, Dame Rosie, so that I can respond to some of the comments that the right hon. Member for Ashford (Damian Green) was just making. I respect that he feels passionately about these matters, but to equate these clauses with genocide or the annexation of territory against the will of a sovereign state is absolutely ridiculous. It completely misunderstands the degree of doubt that exists about what international law means when interpreting international agreements.

[Damian Green]

My hon. Friend is ascribing the things he most disagrees with to me—[Interruption.] No, he did say “my right hon. Friend the Member for Ashford”. I am sure that the hon. Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) would wish to take ownership of his own ideas.